{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19377/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19377","id":"gutenberg_19377","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19377","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Society of Friends"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1834 Harrison and Crosfield edition by David Price,\nemail ccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\n                             A BRIEF ACCOUNT\n                                  OF THE\n                            RISE AND PROGRESS\n                              OF THE PEOPLE\n                             CALLED QUAKERS,\n                              IN WHICH THEIR\n FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE, DOCTRINES, WORSHIP, MINISTRY, AND DISCIPLINE, ARE\n                            PLAINLY DECLARED.\n\n\n WITH A SUMMARY RELATION OF THE FORMER DISPENSATIONS OF GOD IN THE WORLD;\n                         BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION.\n\n                             BY WILLIAM PENN.\n\n    AS UNKNOWN, AND YET WELL KNOWN.  2 COR. VI. 9.\n\n                             TWELFTH EDITION.\n\n                               MANCHESTER:\n\n          _Printed by Harrison and Crosfield_, _Market Street_.\n\n                                 SOLD BY\n\n               HARVEY & DARTON, GRACECHURCH STREET, LONDON.\n\n                                  1834.\n\n\n\n\nAN EPISTLE TO THE READER.\n\n\nReader, this following account of the people called Quakers, &c. was\nwritten in the fear and love of God: first, as a standing testimony to\nthat ever blessed truth in the inward parts, with which God, in my\nyouthful time, visited my soul, and for the sense and love of which I was\nmade willing, in no ordinary way, to relinquish the honours and interests\nof the world.  Secondly, as a testimony for that despised people, that\nGod has in his great mercy gathered and united by his own blessed Spirit\nin the holy profession of it; whose fellowship I value above all worldly\ngreatness.  Thirdly, in love and honour to the memory of that worthy\nservant of God, George Fox, the first instrument thereof, and therefore\nstyled by me--The great and blessed apostle of our day.  As this gave\nbirth to what is here presented to thy view, in the first edition of it,\nby way of preface to George Fox's excellent Journal; so the consideration\nof the present usefulness of the following account of the people called\nQuakers, by reason of the unjust reflections of some adversaries that\nonce walked under the profession of Friends, and the exhortations that\nconclude it, prevailed with me to consent that it should be republished\nin a smaller volume; knowing also full well, that great books, especially\nin these days, grow burthensome, both to the pockets and minds of too\nmany; and that there are not a few that desire, so it be at an easy rate,\nto be informed about this people, that have been so much every where\nspoken against: but blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, it is upon no worse grounds than it was said of old time of the\nprimitive Christians, as I hope will appear to every sober and\nconsiderate reader.  Our business, after all the ill usage we have met\nwith, being the realities of religion, an effectual change before our\nlast and great change: that all may come to an inward, sensible, and\nexperimental knowledge of God, through the convictions and operations of\nthe light and spirit of Christ in themselves; the sufficient and blessed\nmeans given to all, that thereby all may come savingly to know the only\ntrue God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent to enlighten and redeem the\nworld: which knowledge is indeed eternal life.  And that thou, reader,\nmayst obtain it, is the earnest desire of him that is ever thine in so\ngood a work.\n\nWILLIAM PENN.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. I.\n\n\n_Containing a brief account of divers dispensations of God in the world_,\n_to the time he was pleased to raise this despised people_, _called\nQuakers_.\n\nDivers have been the dispensations of God since the creation of the\nworld, unto the sons of men; but the great end of all of them, has been\nthe renown of his own excellent name in the creation and restoration of\nman: man, the emblem of himself, as a God on earth, and the glory of all\nhis works.  The world began with innocency; all was then good that the\ngood God had made: and as he blessed the works of his hands, so their\nnatures and harmony magnified him their Creator.  Then the morning stars\nsang together for joy, and all parts of his work said Amen to his law.\nNot a jar in the whole frame; but man in paradise, the beasts in the\nfield, the fowl in the air, the fish in the sea, the lights in the\nheavens, the fruits of the earth; yea, the air, the earth, the water, and\nfire, worshipped, praised, and exalted his power, wisdom, and goodness.\nO holy sabbath!  O holy day to the Lord!\n\nBut this happy state lasted not long; for man, the crown and glory of the\nwhole, being tempted to aspire above his place, unhappily yielded,\nagainst command and duty, as well as interest and felicity, and so fell\nbelow it; lost the divine image, the wisdom, power, and purity he was\nmade in; by which, being no longer fit for paradise, he was expelled that\ngarden of God, his proper dwelling and residence, and was driven out, as\na poor vagabond, from the presence of the Lord, to wander in the earth,\nthe habitation of beasts.\n\nYet God that made him had pity on him; for he, seeing man was deceived,\nand that it was not of malice, or an original presumption in him, but\nthrough the subtilty of the serpent, who had first fallen from his own\nstate, and by the mediation of the woman, man's own nature and companion,\nwhom the serpent had first deluded, in his infinite goodness and wisdom\nprovided a way to repair the breach, recover the loss, and restore fallen\nman again by a nobler and more excellent Adam, promised to be born of a\nwoman; that as by means of a woman the evil one had prevailed upon man,\nby a woman also he should come into the world, who would prevail against\nhim, and bruise his head, and deliver man from his power: and which, in a\nsignal manner, by the dispensation of the Son of God in the flesh, in the\nfulness of time was personally and fully accomplished by him, and in him,\nas man's Saviour and Redeemer.\n\nBut his power was not limited, in the manifestation of it to that time;\nfor both before and since his blessed manifestation in the flesh, he has\nbeen the light and life, the rock and strength of all that ever feared\nGod; was present with them in their temptations, followed them in their\ntravels and afflictions, and supported and carried them through and over\nthe difficulties that have attended them in their earthly pilgrimage.  By\nthis, Abel's heart excelled Cain's, and Seth obtained the pre-eminence,\nand Enoch walked with God.  It was this that strove with the old world,\nand which they rebelled against, and which sanctified and instructed Noah\nto salvation.\n\nBut the outward dispensation that followed the benighted state of man,\nafter his fall, especially among the patriarchs, was generally that of\nangels; as the scriptures of the Old Testament do in many places express,\nas to Abraham, Jacob, &c.  The next was that of the law by Moses, which\nwas also delivered by angels, as the apostle tells us.  This dispensation\nwas much outward, and suited to a low and servile state; called\ntherefore, by the apostle Paul, that of a schoolmaster, which was to\npoint out and prepare that people to look and long for the Messiah, who\nwould deliver them from the servitude of a ceremonious and imperfect\ndispensation, by knowing the realities of those mysterious\nrepresentations in themselves.  In this time the law was written on\nstone, the temple built with hands, attended with an outward priesthood,\nand external rites and ceremonies, that were shadows of the good things\nthat were to come, and were only to serve till the seed came, or the more\nexcellent and general manifestation of Christ, to whom was the promise,\nand to all men only in him, in whom it was yea and amen, even life from\ndeath, immortality and eternal life.\n\nThis the prophets foresaw, and comforted the believing Jews in the\ncertainty of it; which was the top of the Mosaical dispensation, which\nended in John's ministry, the forerunner of the Messiah, as John's was\nfinished in him, the fulness of all.  And then God, that at sundry times,\nand in divers manners, had spoken to the fathers by his servants the\nprophets, spoke to men by his Son Christ Jesus, who is heir of all\nthings, being the gospel-day, which is the dispensation of sonship:\nbringing in thereby a nearer testament, and a better hope; even the\nbeginning of the glory of the latter days, and of the restitution of all\nthings; yea, the restoration of the kingdom unto Israel.\n\nNow the spirit, that was more sparingly communicated in former\ndispensations, began to be poured forth upon all flesh, according to the\nprophet Joel; and the light that shined in darkness, or but dimly before,\nthe most gracious God caused to shine out of darkness, and the day-star\nbegan to rise in the hearts of believers, giving unto them the knowledge\nof God in the face, or appearance, of his Son Christ Jesus.\n\nNow the poor in spirit, the meek, the true mourners, the hungry and\nthirsty after righteousness, the peacemakers, the pure in heart, the\nmerciful and persecuted, came more especially in remembrance before the\nLord, and were sought out and blessed by Israel's true Shepherd.  Old\nJerusalem with her children grew out of date, and the new Jerusalem into\nrequest, the mother of the sons of the gospel-day.  Wherefore, no more at\nold Jerusalem, nor at the mountain of Samaria, will God be worshipped\nabove other places; for, behold, he is, by his own Son, declared and\npreached a Spirit, and that he will be known as such, and worshipped in\nthe spirit and in the truth.  He will now come nearer than of old time,\nand he will write his law in the heart, and put his fear and spirit in\nthe inward parts, according to his promise.  Then signs, types, and\nshadows flew away, the day having discovered their insufficiency in not\nreaching to the inside of the cup, to the cleansing of the conscience;\nand all elementary services expired in and by him, that is the substance\nof all.\n\nAnd to this great and blessed end of the dispensation of the Son of God,\ndid the apostles testify, whom he had chosen and anointed by his spirit,\nto turn the Jews from their prejudice and superstition, and the Gentiles\nfrom their vanity and idolatry, to Christ's light and spirit that shined\nin them; that they might be quickened from the sins and trespasses in\nwhich they were dead, to serve the living God, in the newness of the\nspirit of life, and walk as children of the light, and of the day, even\nthe day of holiness: for such put on Christ, the light of the world, and\nmake no more provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.  So\nthat the light, spirit, and grace, that come by Christ, and appear in\nman, were that divine principle the apostles ministered from, and turned\npeople's minds unto, and in which they gathered and built up the church\nof Christ in their day.  For which cause they advise them not to quench\nthe spirit, but to wait for the spirit, and speak by the spirit, and pray\nby the spirit, and walk in the spirit too, as that which approved them\nthe truly begotten children of God, born not of flesh and blood, or of\nthe will of man, but of the will of God; by doing his will, and denying\ntheir own; by drinking of Christ's cup, and being baptized with his\nbaptism of self-denial; the way and path that all the heirs of life have\never trod to blessedness.\n\nBut alas! even in the apostles' days, those bright stars of the first\nmagnitude of the gospel light, some clouds, foretelling an eclipse of\nthis primitive glory, began to appear; and several of them gave early\ncaution of it to the Christians of their time, that even then there was,\nand yet would be more and more, a falling away from the power of\ngodliness, and the purity of that spiritual dispensation, by such as\nsought to make a fair show in the flesh, but with whom the offence of the\ncross ceased.  Yet with this comfortable conclusion, that they saw beyond\nit a more glorious time than ever to the true church.  Their sight was\ntrue; and what they foretold to the churches, gathered by them in the\nname and power of Jesus, came to pass: for Christians degenerated apace\ninto outsides, as days, and meats, and divers other ceremonies.  And,\nwhich was worse, they fell into strife and contention about them;\nseparating one from another, then envying, and, as they had power,\npersecuting one another, to the shame and scandal of their common\nChristianity, and grievous stumbling and offence of the heathen; among\nwhom the Lord had so long and so marvellously preserved them.  And having\ngot at last the worldly power into their hands, by kings and emperors\nembracing the Christian profession, they changed, what they could, the\nkingdom of Christ, which is not of this world, into a worldly kingdom;\nor, at least, styled the worldly kingdom that was in their hands, the\nkingdom of Christ, and so they became worldly and not true Christians.\nThen human inventions and novelties, both in doctrine and worship,\ncrowded fast into the church; a door opened thereunto, by the grossness\nand carnality that appeared then among the generality of Christians, who\nhad long since left the guidance of God's meek and heavenly spirit, and\ngiven themselves up to superstition, will-worship, and voluntary\nhumility.  And as superstition is blind, so it is heady and furious, for\nall must stoop to its blind and boundless zeal, or perish by it: in the\nname of the spirit, persecuting the very appearance of the spirit of God\nin others, and opposing that in others, which they resisted in\nthemselves, viz. the light, grace, and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ;\nbut always under the notion of innovation, heresy, schism, or some such\nplausible name; though Christianity allows of no name, or pretence\nwhatever, for persecuting of any man for matters of mere religion, being\nin its very nature meek, gentle, and forbearing; and consists of faith,\nhope, and charity, which no persecutor can have, whilst he remains a\npersecutor; in that a man cannot believe well, or hope well, or have a\ncharitable or tender regard to another, whilst he would violate his mind,\nor persecute his body, for matters of faith or worship towards his God.\n\nThus the false church sprang up, and mounted the chair; but, though she\nlost her nature, she would needs keep her good name of the Lamb's bride,\nthe true church, and mother of the faithful: constraining all to receive\nher mark, either in their forehead, or right-hand; that is, publicly, or\nprivately.  But, in deed and in truth, she was mystery Babylon, the\nmother of harlots, mother of those that, with all their show and outside\nof religion, were adulterated and gone from the spirit, nature, and life\nof Christ, and grown vain, worldly, ambitious, covetous, cruel, &c. which\nare the fruits of the flesh, and not of the spirit.\n\nNow it was, that the true church fled into the wilderness, that is, from\nsuperstition and violence, to a retired, solitary, and lonely state:\nhidden, and as it were, out of sight of men, though not out of the world.\nWhich shows, that her wonted visibility was not essential to the being of\na true church in the judgment of the Holy Ghost; she being as true a\nchurch in the wilderness, though not as visible and lustrous, as when she\nwas in her former splendor of profession.  In this state many attempts\nshe made to return, but the waters were yet too high, and her way blocked\nup; and many of her excellent children, in several nations and centuries,\nfell by the cruelty of superstition, because they would not fall from\ntheir faithfulness to the truth.\n\nThe last age did set some steps towards it, both as to doctrine, worship,\nand practice.  But practice quickly failed: for wickedness flowed, in a\nlittle time, as well among the professors of the reformation, as those\nthey reformed from; so that by the fruits of conversation they were not\nto be distinguished.  And the children of the reformers, if not the\nreformers themselves, betook themselves, very early, to earthly policy\nand power, to uphold and carry on their reformation that had been begun\nwith spiritual weapons; which I have often thought has been one of the\ngreatest reasons the reformation made no better progress, as to the life\nand soul of religion.  For whilst the reformers were lowly and\nspiritually minded, and trusted in God, and looked to him, and lived in\nhis fear, and consulted not with flesh and blood, nor sought deliverance\nin their own way, there were daily added to the church such as, one might\nreasonably say, should be saved: for they were not so careful to be safe\nfrom persecution, as to be faithful and inoffensive under it: being more\nconcerned to spread the truth by their faith and patience in tribulation,\nthan to get the worldly power out of their hands that inflicted those\nsufferings upon them: and it will be well if the Lord suffer them not to\nfall, by the very same way they took to stand.\n\nIn doctrine they were in some things short; in other things, to avoid one\nextreme, they ran into another: and for worship, there was, for the\ngenerality, more of man in it than of God.  They owned the spirit,\ninspiration, and revelation, indeed, and grounded their separation and\nreformation upon the sense and understanding they received from it, in\nthe reading of the scriptures of truth.  And this was their plea; the\nscripture is the text, the spirit the interpreter, and that to every one\nfor himself.  But yet there was too much of human invention, tradition,\nand art, that remained both in praying and preaching; and of worldly\nauthority, and worldly greatness in their ministers; especially in this\nkingdom, Sweden, Denmark, and some parts of Germany.  God was therefore\npleased in England to shift us from vessel to vessel; and the next remove\nhumbled the ministry, so that they were more strict in preaching, devout\nin praying, and zealous for keeping the Lord's day, and catechising of\nchildren and servants, and repeating at home in their families what they\nhad heard in public.  But even as these grew into power, they were not\nonly for whipping some out, but others into the temple: and they appeared\nrigid in their spirits, rather than severe in their lives, and more for a\nparty than for piety: which brought forth another people, that were yet\nmore retired and select.\n\nThey would not communicate at large, or in common with others; but formed\nchurches among themselves of such as could give some account of their\nconversion, at least of very promising experiences of the work of God's\ngrace upon their hearts, and under mutual agreements and covenants of\nfellowship, they kept together.  These people were somewhat of a softer\ntemper, and seemed to recommend religion by the charms of its love,\nmercy, and goodness, rather than by the terrors of its judgments and\npunishments; by which the former party would have awed people into\nreligion.\n\nThey also allowed greater liberty to prophesy than those before them; for\nthey admitted any member to speak or pray, as well as their pastor, whom\nthey always chose, and not the civil magistrate.  If such found anything\npressing upon them to either duty, even without the distinction of clergy\nor laity, persons of any trade had their liberty, be it never so low and\nmechanical.  But alas! even these people suffered great loss: for tasting\nof worldly empire, and the favour of princes, and the gain that ensued,\nthey degenerated but too much.  For though they had cried down national\nchurches and ministry, and maintenance too, some of them, when it was\ntheir own turn to be tried, fell under the weight of worldly honour and\nadvantage, got into profitable parsonages too much, and outlived and\ncontradicted their own principles; and, which was yet worse, turned, some\nof them, absolute persecutors of other men for God's sake, that but so\nlately came themselves out of the furnace; which drove many a step\nfurther, and that was into the water: another baptism, as believing they\nwere not scripturally baptized: and hoping to find that presence and\npower of God, in submitting to this watery ordinance, which they desired\nand wanted.\n\nThese people also made profession of neglecting, if not renouncing and\ncensuring not only the necessity, but use, of all human learning, as to\nthe ministry; and all other qualifications to it, besides the helps and\ngifts of the spirit of God, and those natural and common to men.  And for\na time they seemed, like John of old, a burning and a shining light to\nother societies.\n\nThey were very diligent, plain, and serious; strong in scripture, and\nbold in profession; bearing much reproach and contradiction.  But that\nwhich others fell by, proved their snare.  For worldly power spoiled them\ntoo; who had enough of it to try them what they would do if they had\nmore: and they rested also too much upon their watery dispensation,\ninstead of passing on more fully to that of the fire and Holy Ghost,\nwhich was his baptism, who came with a fan in his hand, that he might\nthoroughly, and not in part only, purge his floor, and take away the\ndross and the tin of his people, and make a man finer than gold.  Withal,\nthey grew high, rough, and self-righteous; opposing further attainment;\ntoo much forgetting the day of their infancy and littleness, which gave\nthem something of a real beauty; insomuch that many left them, and all\nvisible churches and societies, and wandered up and down as sheep without\na shepherd, and as doves without their mates; seeking their beloved, but\ncould not find him, as their souls desired to know him, whom their souls\nloved above their chiefest joy.\n\nThese people were called Seekers by some, and the Family of Love by\nothers; because, as they came to the knowledge of one another, they\nsometimes met together, not formally to pray or preach at appointed times\nor places, in their own wills, as in times past they were accustomed to\ndo, but waited together in silence; and as anything rose in any one of\ntheir minds, that they thought savoured of a divine spring, they\nsometimes spoke.  But so it was, that some of them not keeping in\nhumility, and in the fear of God, after the abundance of revelation, were\nexalted above measure; and for want of staying their minds in an humble\ndependance upon him that opened their understandings, to see great things\nin his law, they ran out in their own imaginations, and mixing them with\nthose divine openings, brought forth a monstrous birth, to the scandal of\nthose that feared God, and waited daily in the temple not made with\nhands, for the consolation of Israel; the Jew inward, and circumcision in\nspirit.\n\nThis people obtained the name of Ranters, from their extravagant\ndiscourses and practices.  For they interpreted Christ's fulfilling of\nthe law for us, to be a discharging of us from any obligation and duty\nthe law required of us, instead of the condemnation of the law for sins\npast, upon faith and repentance: and that now it was no sin to do that\nwhich before it was a sin to commit; the slavish fear of the law being\ntaken off by Christ, and all things good that man did, if he did but do\nthem with the mind and persuasion that it was so.  Insomuch that divers\nfell into gross and enormous practices; pretending in excuse thereof,\nthat they could, without evil, commit the same act which was sin in\nanother to do: thereby distinguishing between the action and the evil of\nit, by the direction of the mind, and intention in the doing of it.\nWhich was to make sin super-abound by the aboundings of grace, and to\nturn from the grace of God into wantonness; a securer way of sinning than\nbefore: as if Christ came not to save us from our sins, but in our sins;\nnot to take away sin, but that we might sin more freely at his cost, and\nwith less danger to ourselves.  I say, this ensnared divers, and brought\nthem to an utter and lamentable loss as to their eternal state; and they\ngrew very troublesome to the better sort of people, and furnished the\nlooser with an occasion to profane.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. II.\n\n\n_Of the rise of this People_, _their fundamental principle_, _and\ndoctrine_, _and practice_, _in twelve points resulting from it_: _their\nprogress and sufferings_: _an expostulation with England thereupon_.\n\nAt was about that very time, as you may see in George Fox's annals, that\nthe eternal, wise, and good God, was pleased, in his infinite love, to\nhonour and visit this benighted and bewildered nation, with his glorious\nday-spring from on high; yea, with a more sure and certain sound of the\nword of light and life, through the testimony of a chosen vessel, to an\neffectual and blessed purpose, can many thousands say, glory be to the\nname of the Lord for ever!\n\nFor as it reached the conscience, and broke the heart, and brought many\nto a sense and search, so that which people had been vainly seeking\nwithout, with much pains and cost, they, by this ministry, found within,\nwhere it was they wanted what they sought for, viz. the right way to\npeace with God.  For they were directed to the light of Jesus Christ\nwithin them, as the seed and leaven of the kingdom of God; near all,\nbecause in all, and God's talent to all: a faithful and true witness, and\njust monitor in every bosom.  The gift and grace of God to life and\nsalvation, that appears to all, though few regard it.  This the\ntraditional Christian, conceited of himself, and strong in his own will\nand righteousness, overcome with blind zeal and passion, either despised\nas a low and common thing, or opposed as a novelty, under many hard names\nand opprobrious terms; denying, in his ignorant and angry mind, any fresh\nmanifestations of God's power and spirit in man, in these days, though\nnever more needed to make true Christians.  Not unlike those Jews of old,\nthat rejected the Son of God, at the very same time that they blindly\nprofessed to wait for the Messiah to come; because, alas! he appeared not\namong them according to their carnal mind and expectation.\n\nThis brought forth many abusive books, which filled the greater sort with\nenvy, and lesser with rage; and made the way and progress of this blessed\ntestimony strait and narrow, indeed, to those that received it.  However,\nGod owned his own work, and this testimony did effectually reach, gather,\ncomfort, and establish the weary and heavy-laden, the hungry and thirsty,\nthe poor and needy, the mournful and sick of many maladies, that had\nspent all upon physicians of no value, and waited for relief from heaven,\nhelp only from above; seeing, upon a serious trial of all things, nothing\nelse would do but Christ himself; the light of his countenance, a touch\nof his garment, and help from his hand, who cured the poor woman's issue,\nraised the centurion's servant, the widow's son, the ruler's daughter,\nand Peter's mother: and like her they no sooner felt his power and\nefficacy upon their souls, but they gave up to obey him in a testimony to\nhis power: and that with resigned wills and faithful hearts, through all\nmockings, contradictions, confiscations, beatings, prisons, and many\nother jeopardies that attended them for his blessed name's sake.\n\nAnd, truly, they were very many, and very great; so that in all human\nprobability they must have been swallowed up quick of the proud and\nboisterous waves that swelled and beat against them, but that the God of\nall their tender mercies was with them in his glorious authority; so that\nthe hills often fled, and the mountains melted before the power that\nfilled them; working mightily for them, as well as in them; one ever\nfollowing the other.  By which they saw plainly, to their exceeding great\nconfirmation and comfort, that all things were possible with him with\nwhom they had to do.  And that the more that which God required seemed to\ncross man's wisdom, and expose them to man's wrath, the more God appeared\nto help and carry them through all to his glory.\n\nInsomuch, that if ever any people could say in truth, Thou art our sun\nand our shield, our rock and sanctuary; and by thee we have leaped over a\nwall, and by thee we have run through a troop, and by thee we have put\nthe armies of the aliens to flight; these people had a right to say it.\nAnd as God had delivered their souls of the wearisome burdens of sin and\nvanity, and enriched their poverty of spirit, and satisfied their great\nhunger and thirst after eternal righteousness, and filled them with the\ngood things of his own house, and made them stewards of his manifold\ngifts; so they went forth to all quarters of these nations, to declare to\nthe inhabitants thereof, what God had done for them; what they had found,\nand where and how they had found it, viz.--The way to peace with God:\ninviting all to come and see, and taste for themselves, the truth of what\nthey declared unto them.\n\nAnd as their testimony was to the principle of God in man, the precious\npearl and leaven of the kingdom, as the only blessed means appointed of\nGod to quicken, convince, and sanctify man; so they opened to them what\nit was in itself, and what it was given to them for; how they might know\nit from their own spirit, and that of the subtle appearance of the evil\none: and what it would do for all those whose minds should be turned off\nfrom the vanity of the world, and its lifeless ways and teachers, and\nadhere to his blessed light in themselves, which discovers and condemns\nsin in all its appearances, and shows how to overcome it, if minded and\nobeyed in its holy manifestations and convictions: giving power to such,\nto avoid and resist those things that do not please God, and to grow\nstrong in love, faith, and good works.  That so man, whom sin hath made\nas a wilderness, over-run with briers and thorns, might become as the\ngarden of God, cultivated by his divine power, and replenished with the\nmost virtuous and beautiful plants of God's own right-hand planting, to\nhis eternal praise.\n\nBut these experimental preachers of glad tidings of God's truth and\nkingdom could not run when they list, or pray or preach when they\npleased, but as Christ their Redeemer prepared and moved them by his own\nblessed Spirit, for which they waited in their services and meetings, and\nspoke as that gave them utterance; and which was as those having\nauthority, and not like the dry, and formal Pharisees.  And so it plainly\nappeared to the serious-minded, whose spiritual eye the Lord Jesus had in\nany measure opened: so that to one was given the word of exhortation, to\nanother the word of reproof, to another the word of consolation, and all\nby the same Spirit, and in the good order thereof, to the convincing and\nedifying of many.\n\nAnd, truly, they waxed strong and bold through faithfulness; and by the\npower and Spirit of the Lord Jesus became very fruitful; thousands, in a\nshort time, being turned to the truth in the inward parts, through their\ntestimony in ministry and sufferings: insomuch as, in most counties, and\nmany of the considerable towns of England, meetings were settled; and\ndaily there were added such as should be saved.  For they were diligent\nto plant and to water, and the Lord blessed their labours with an\nexceeding great increase; notwithstanding all the opposition made to\ntheir blessed progress, by false rumours, calumnies, and bitter\npersecutions; not only from the powers of the earth, but from every one\nthat listed to injure and abuse them: so that they seemed, indeed, to be\nas poor sheep appointed to the slaughter, and as a people killed all the\nday long.\n\nIt were fitter for a volume than a preface, but so much as to repeat the\ncontents of their cruel sufferings; from professors as well as from\nprofane, and from magistrates as well as the rabble: that it may be said\nof this abused and despised people, they went forth weeping, and sowed in\ntears, bearing testimony to the precious seed, even the seed of the\nkingdom, which stands not in words, the finest, the highest that man's\nwit can use; but in power, the power of Christ Jesus, to whom God the\nFather hath given all power in heaven and in earth, that he might rule\nangels above, and men below.  Who empowered them, as their work\nwitnesseth, by the many that were turned through their ministry, from\ndarkness to light, and out of the broad into the narrow way of life and\npeace: bringing people to a weighty, serious, and God-like conversation;\nthe practice of that doctrine which they taught.\n\nAnd as without this secret divine power, there is no quickening and\nregenerating of dead souls, so the want of this generating and begetting\npower and life, is the cause of the little fruit that the many\nministries, that have been and are in the world, bring forth.  O that\nboth ministers and people were sensible of this!  My soul is often\ntroubled for them, and sorrow and mourning compass me about for their\nsakes.  O that they were wise!  O that they would consider, and lay to\nheart the things that truly and substantially make for their lasting\npeace!\n\nTwo things are to be considered; the doctrine they taught, and the\nexample they led among all people.  I have already touched upon their\nfundamental principle, which is as the corner-stone of their fabric: and,\nindeed, to speak eminently and properly, their characteristic, or main\ndistinguishing point or principle, viz. the light of Christ within, as\nGod's gift for man's salvation.  This, I say, is as the root of the\ngoodly tree of doctrines that grew and branched out from it, which I\nshall now mention in their natural and experimental order.\n\nFirst, repentance from dead works to serve the living God.  Which\ncomprehends three operations.  First, a sight of sin.  Secondly, a sense\nand godly sorrow for sin.  Thirdly, an amendment for the time to come.\nThis was the repentance they preached and pressed, and a natural result\nfrom the principle they turned all people unto.  For of light came sight;\nand of sight came sense and sorrow; and of sense and sorrow came\namendment of life.  Which doctrine of repentance leads to justification;\nthat is, forgiveness of the sins that are past, through Christ the alone\npropitiation, and the sanctification or purgation, of the soul from the\ndefiling nature and habits of sin present, by the Spirit of Christ in the\nsoul; which is justification in the complete sense of that word:\ncomprehending both justification from the guilt of the sins that are\npast, as if they had never been committed, through the love and mercy of\nGod in Christ Jesus; and the creature's being made inwardly just, through\nthe cleansing and sanctifying power and Spirit of Christ revealed in the\nsoul; which is commonly called sanctification.  But none can come to know\nChrist to be their sacrifice, that reject him as their sanctifier: the\nend of his coming being to save his people from the nature and\ndefilement, as well as guilt of sin; and, therefore, those that resist\nhis light and Spirit, make his coming and offering of none effect to\nthem.\n\nFrom hence sprang a second doctrine they were led to declare, as the mark\nof the prize of the high calling to all true Christians, viz. Perfection\nfrom sin, according to the scriptures of truth; which testify it to be\nthe end of Christ's coming, and the nature of his kingdom, and for which\nhis Spirit was and is given, viz. to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is\nperfect, and holy, because God is holy.  And this the apostles laboured\nfor, that the Christians should be sanctified throughout in body, soul,\nand spirit; but they never held a perfection in wisdom and glory in this\nlife, or from natural infirmities, or death, as some have, with a weak or\nill mind, imagined and insinuated against them.\n\nThis they called a redeemed state, regeneration, or the new birth:\nteaching everywhere, according to their foundation, that unless this work\nwas known, there was no inheriting of the kingdom of God.\n\nThirdly, this leads to an acknowledgment of eternal rewards and\npunishments, as they have good reason; for else, of all people, certainly\nthey must be most miserable, who, for above forty years, have been\nexceeding great sufferers for their profession; and, in some cases,\ntreated worse than the worst of men; yea, as the refuse and off-scouring\nof all things.\n\nThis was the purport of their doctrine and ministry; which for the most\npart, is what other professors of Christianity pretend to hold in words\nand forms, but not in the power of godliness; which, generally speaking,\nhas been long lost by men's departing from that principle and seed of\nlife that is in man, and which man has not regarded, but lost the sense\nof; and in and by which he can only be quickened in his mind to serve the\nliving God in newness of life.  For as the life of religion was lost, and\nthe generality lived and worshipped God after their own wills, and not\nafter the will of God, nor the mind of Christ, which stood in the works\nand fruits of the Holy Spirit; so that which these pressed, was not\nnotion, but experience; not formality, but godliness; as being sensible\nin themselves, through the work of God's righteous judgments, that\nwithout holiness no man shall ever see the Lord with comfort.\n\nBesides these general doctrines, as the larger branches, there sprang\nforth several particular doctrines, that did exemplify and farther\nexplain the truth and efficacy of the general doctrine before observed,\nin their lives and examples.  As,\n\nI.  Communion and loving one another.  This is a noted mark in the mouths\nof all sorts of people concerning them: they will meet, they will help\nand stick one to another: whence it is common to hear some say, \"Look how\nthe Quakers love and take care of one another.\"  Others, less moderate,\nwill say, \"The Quakers love none but themselves:\" and if loving one\nanother, and having an intimate communion in religion, and constant care\nto meet to worship God, and help one another, be any mark of primitive\nChristianity, they had it, blessed be the Lord, in an ample manner.\n\nII.  To love enemies.  This they both taught and practised.  For they did\nnot only refuse to be revenged for injuries done them, and condemned it\nas of an unchristian spirit; but they did freely forgive, yea, help and\nrelieve those that had been cruel to them, when it was in their power to\nhave been even with them: of which many and singular instances might be\ngiven: endeavouring, through faith and patience, to overcome all\ninjustice and oppression, and preaching this doctrine as Christian, for\nothers to follow.\n\nIII.  Another was, the sufficiency of truth-speaking, according to\nChrist's own form of sound words, of yea, yea, and nay, nay, among\nChristians, without swearing, both from Christ's express prohibition to\nswear at all; (Mat. v.) and for that, they being under the tie and bond\nof truth in themselves, there was no necessity for an oath; and it would\nbe a reproach to their Christian veracity to assure their truth by such\nan extraordinary way of speaking; simple and uncompounded answers, as yea\nand nay, without asseveration, attestation, or supernatural vouchers,\nbeing most suitable to evangelical righteousness.  But offering, at the\nsame time, to be punished to the full for false-speaking, as others for\nperjury, if ever guilty of it: and hereby they exclude with all true, all\nfalse and profane swearing; for which the land did and doth mourn, and\nthe great God was, and is, not a little offended with it.\n\nIV.  Not fighting, but suffering, is another testimony peculiar to this\npeople: they affirm that Christianity teacheth people to beat their\nswords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and to\nlearn war no more; that so the wolf may lie down with the lamb, and the\nlion with the calf, and nothing that destroys be entertained in the\nhearts of people: exhorting them to employ their zeal against sin, and\nturn their anger against Satan, and no longer war one against another;\nbecause all wars and fightings come of men's own hearts' lusts, according\nto the apostle James, and not of the meek Spirit of Christ Jesus, who is\ncaptain of another warfare, and which is carried on with other weapons.\nThus, as truth-speaking succeeded swearing, so faith and patience\nsucceeded fighting, in the doctrine and practice of this people.  Nor\nought they for this to be obnoxious to civil government, since, if they\ncannot fight for it, neither can they fight against it; which is no mean\nsecurity to any state.  Nor is it reasonable, that people should be\nblamed for not doing more for others than they can do for themselves.\nAnd, Christianity set aside, if the costs and fruits of war were well\nconsidered, peace, with all its inconveniencies, is generally preferable.\nBut though they were not for fighting, they were for submitting to\ngovernment, and that, not only for fear, but for conscience-sake, where\ngovernment doth not interfere with conscience; believing it to be an\nordinance of God, and where it is justly administered, a great benefit to\nmankind.  Though it has been their lot, through blind zeal in some, and\ninterest in others, to have felt the strokes of it with greater weight\nand rigour than any other persuasion in this age; whilst they of all\nothers, religion set aside, have given the civil magistrate the least\noccasion of trouble in the discharge of his office.\n\nV.  Another part of the character of this people was, and is, they refuse\nto pay tithes or maintenance to a national ministry; and that for two\nreasons: the one is, they believe all compelled maintenance, even to\ngospel-ministers, to be unlawful, because expressly contrary to Christ's\ncommand, who said, \"Freely you have received, freely give:\" at least,\nthat the maintenance of gospel-ministers should be free, and not forced.\nThe other reason of their refusal is, because these ministers are not\ngospel ones, in that the Holy Ghost is not their foundation, but human\narts and parts.  So that it is not matter of humour or sullenness, but\npure conscience towards God, that they cannot help to support national\nministries where they dwell, which are but too much and too visibly\nbecome ways of worldly advantage and preferment.\n\nVI.  Not to respect persons, was, and is, another of their doctrines and\npractices, for which they were often buffeted and abused.  They affirmed\nit to be sinful to give flattering titles, or to use vain gestures and\ncompliments of respect.  Though to virtue and authority they ever made a\ndeference; but after their plain and homely manner, yet sincere and\nsubstantial way: well remembering the examples of Mordecai and Elihu; but\nmore especially the command of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ, who\nforbade his followers to call men Rabbi, which implies Lord or Master;\nalso the fashionable greetings and salutations of those times; that so\nself-love and honour, to which the proud mind of man is incident, in his\nfallen state, might not be indulged, but rebuked.  And though this\nrendered their conversation disagreeable, yet they that will remember\nwhat Christ said to the Jews, \"How can you believe which receive honour\none of another?\" will abate of their resentment, if his doctrine has any\ncredit with them.\n\nVII.  They also used the plain language of Thee and Thou, to a single\nperson, whatever was his degree among men.  And, indeed, the wisdom of\nGod was much seen in bringing forth this people in so plain an\nappearance.  For it was a close and distinguishing test upon the spirits\nof those they came among; showing their insides, and what predominated,\nnotwithstanding their high and great profession of religion.  This among\nthe rest sounded harsh to many of them, and they took it ill, forgetting\nthe language they use to God in their own prayers, and the common style\nof the scriptures, and that it is an absolute and essential propriety of\nspeech.  And what good, alas! had their religion done them, who were so\nsensibly touched with indignation for the use of this plain, honest, and\ntrue speech?\n\nVIII.  They recommended silence by their example, having very few words\nupon all occasions.  They were at a word in dealing: nor could their\ncustomers, with many words, tempt them from it, having more regard to\ntruth than custom, to example than gain.  They sought solitude: but when\nin company, they would neither use, nor willingly hear unnecessary or\nunlawful discourses: whereby they preserved their minds pure and\nundisturbed from unprofitable thoughts, and diversions.  Nor could they\nhumour the custom of Good Night, Good Morrow, God Speed; for they knew\nthe night was good, and the day was good, without wishing of either; and\nthat in the other expression, the holy name of God was too lightly and\nunthankfully used, and therefore taken in vain.  Besides, they were words\nand wishes of course, and are usually as little meant, as are love and\nservice in the custom of cap and knee; and superfluity in those, as well\nas in other things, was burthensome to them; and therefore, they did not\nonly decline to use them, but found themselves often pressed to reprove\nthe practice.\n\nIX.  For the same reason they forbore drinking to people, or pledging of\nthem, as the manner of the world is: a practice that is not only\nunnecessary, but they thought evil in the tendencies of it, being a\nprovocation to drink more than did people good, as well as that it was in\nitself vain and heathenish.\n\nX.  Their way of marriage is peculiar to them; and shows a distinguishing\ncare above other societies professing Christianity.  They say, that\nmarriage is an ordinance of God, and that God only can rightly join man\nand woman in marriage.  Therefore, they use neither priest nor\nmagistrate; but the man and woman concerned take each other as husband\nand wife, in the presence of divers credible witnesses, promising to each\nother, with God's assistance, to be loving and faithful in that relation,\ntill death shall separate them.  But antecedent to this, they first\npresent themselves to the monthly meeting for the affairs of the church\nwhere they reside; there declaring their intentions to take one another\nas husband and wife, if the said meeting have nothing material to object\nagainst it.  They are constantly asked the necessary questions, {25} as\nin case of parents or guardians, if they have acquainted them with their\nintention, and have their consent, &c.  The method of the meeting is, to\ntake a minute thereof, and to appoint proper persons to inquire of their\nconversation and clearness from all others, and whether they have\ndischarged their duty to their parents or guardians; and to make report\nthereof to the next monthly meeting, where the same parties are desired\nto give their attendance. {26}  In case it appears they have proceeded\norderly, the meeting passes their proposal, and so records it in their\nmeeting book.  And in case the woman be a widow, and hath children, due\ncare is there taken that provision also be made by her for the orphans,\nbefore the meeting pass the proposals of marriage: advising the parties\nconcerned, to appoint a convenient time and place, and to give fitting\nnotice to their relations, and such friends and neighbours, as they\ndesire should be the witnesses of their marriage: where they take one\nanother by the hand, and by name promise reciprocally, love and fidelity,\nafter the manner before expressed.  Of all which proceedings, a narrative\nin way of certificate is made, to which the said parties first set their\nhands, thereby confirming it as their act and deed; and then divers\nrelations, spectators, and auditors, set their names as witnesses of what\nthey said and signed.  And this certificate is afterward registered in\nthe record belonging to the meeting, where the marriage is solemnized.\nWhich regular method has been, as it deserves, adjudged in courts of law\na good marriage, where it has been by cross and ill people disputed and\ncontested, for want of the accustomed formalities of priest and ring,\n&c.--ceremonies they have refused, not out of humour, but conscience\nreasonably grounded; inasmuch as no scripture example tells us, that the\npriest had any other part, of old time, than that of a witness among the\nrest, before whom the Jews used to take one another: and, therefore, this\npeople look upon it as an imposition, to advance the power and profits of\nthe clergy: and for the use of the ring, it is enough to say, that it was\na heathenish and vain custom, and never in practice among the people of\nGod, Jews, or primitive Christians.  The words of the usual form, as\n\"with my body I thee worship,\" &c. are hardly defensible.  In short, they\nare more careful, exact, and regular, than any form now used; and it is\nfree of the inconveniences, with which other methods are attended; their\ncare and checks being so many, and such, as that no clandestine marriages\ncan be performed among them.\n\nXI.  It may not be unfit to say something here of their births and\nburials, which make up so much of the pomp of too many called Christians.\nFor births, the parents name their own children; which is usually some\ndays after they are born, in the presence of the midwife, if she can be\nthere, and those that were at the birth, who afterwards sign a\ncertificate for that purpose prepared, of the birth and name of the child\nor children; which is recorded in a proper book, in the monthly-meeting\nto which the parents belong; avoiding the accustomed ceremonies and\nfestivals.\n\nXII.  Their burials are performed with the same simplicity.  If the body\nof the deceased be near any public meeting-place, it is usually carried\nthither, for the more convenient reception of those that accompany it to\nthe burying-ground.  And it so falls out sometimes, that while the\nmeeting is gathering for the burial, {27} some or other has a word of\nexhortation, for the sake of the people there met together.  After which\nthe body is borne away by young men, or else those that are of their\nneighbourhood, or those that were most of the intimacy of the deceased\nparty: the corpse being in a plain coffin, without any covering or\nfurniture upon it.  At the ground they pause some time before they put\nthe body into its grave, that if any there should have anything upon them\nto exhort the people, they may not be disappointed; and that the\nrelations may the more retiredly and solemnly take the last leave of the\nbody of their departed kindred, and the spectators have a sense of\nmortality, by the occasion then given them, to reflect upon their own\nlatter end.  Otherwise, they have no set rites or ceremonies on those\noccasions.  Neither do the kindred of the deceased ever wear mourning;\n{28} they looking upon it as a worldly ceremony and piece of pomp; and\nthat what mourning is fit for a Christian to have, at the departure of a\nbeloved relation or friend, should be worn in the mind, which is only\nsensible of the loss: and the love they had to them, and remembrance of\nthem, to be outwardly expressed by a respect to their advice, and care of\nthose they have left behind them, and their love of that they loved.\nWhich conduct of theirs, though unmodish or unfashionable, leaves nothing\nof the substance of things neglected or undone; and as they aim at no\nmore, so that simplicity of life is what they observe with great\nsatisfaction; though it sometimes happens not to be without the mockeries\nof the vain world they live in.\n\nThese things gave them a rough and disagreeable appearance with the\ngenerality; who thought them turners of the world upside down, as,\nindeed, in some sense they were: but in no other than that wherein Paul\nwas so charged, viz. To bring things back into their primitive and right\norder again.  For these and such like practices of theirs were not the\nresult of humour, or for civil distinction, as some have fancied; but a\nfruit of inward sense, which God through his holy fear, had begotten in\nthem.  They did not consider how to contradict the world, or distinguish\nthemselves as a party from others; it being none of their business, as it\nwas not their interest; no, it was not the result of consultation, or a\nframed design, by which to declare or recommend schism or novelty.  But\nGod having given them a sight of themselves, they saw the whole world in\nthe same glass of truth; and sensibly discerned the affections and\npassions of men, and the rise and tendency of things; what it was that\ngratified the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of\nlife, which are not of the Father, but of the world.  And from thence\nsprang, in the night of darkness and apostacy, which hath been over\npeople through their degeneration from the light and Spirit of God, these\nand many other vain customs, which are seen, by the heavenly day of\nChrist that dawns in the soul, to be either wrong in their original, or,\nby time and abuse, hurtful in their practice.  And though these things\nseemed trivial to some, and rendered these people stingy and conceited in\nsuch persons' opinion; there was and is more in them, than they were, or\nare, aware of.\n\nIt was not very easy to our primitive friends to make themselves sights\nand spectacles, and the scorn and derision of the world; which they\neasily foresaw must be the consequence of so unfashionable a conversation\nin it: but here was the wisdom of God seen in the foolishness of these\nthings; first, that they discovered the satisfaction and concern that\npeople had in and for the fashions of this world, notwithstanding their\nhigh pretences to another: in that any disappointment about them came so\nvery near them, as that the greatest honesty, virtue, wisdom, and\nability, were unwelcome without them.  Secondly, it seasonably and\nprofitably divided conversation; for this making their society uneasy to\ntheir relations and acquaintance, it gave them the opportunity of more\nretirement and solitude; wherein they met with better company, even the\nLord God their Redeemer; and grew strong in his love, power, and wisdom;\nand were thereby better qualified for his service.  And the success\nabundantly showed it, blessed be the name of the Lord.\n\nAnd though they were not great and learned in the esteem of this world,\n(for then they had not wanted followers upon their own credit and\nauthority,) yet they were generally of the most sober of the several\npersuasions they were in, and of the most repute for religion; and many\nof them of good capacity, substance, and account among men.\n\nAnd also some among them wanted not for parts, learning, or estate;\nthough then as of old, not many wise, or noble, &c, were called; or, at\nleast, received the heavenly call, because of the cross that attended the\nprofession of it in sincerity.  But neither do parts or learning make men\nthe better Christians, though the better orators and disputants; and it\nis the ignorance of people about the divine gift, that causes that vulgar\nand mischievous mistake.  Theory and practice, speculation and enjoyment,\nwords and life, are two things.  O! it is the penitent, the reformed, the\nlowly, the watchful, the self-denying, and holy soul, that is the\nChristian!  And that frame is the fruit and work of the Spirit, which is\nthe life of Jesus; whose life, though hid in the fulness of it in God the\nFather, is shed abroad in the hearts of them that truly believe,\naccording to their capacity.  O that people did but know this to cleanse\nthem, to circumcise them, to quicken them, and to make them new creatures\nindeed! recreated, or regenerated, after Christ Jesus unto good works;\nthat they might live to God, and not to themselves; and offer up living\nprayers and living praises to the living God, through his own living\nSpirit, in which he is only to be worshipped in this gospel day.\n\nO that they that read me could but feel me! for my heart is affected with\nthis merciful visitation of the Father of lights and spirits to this poor\nnation, and the whole world through the same testimony.  Why should the\ninhabitants thereof reject it?  Why should they lose the blessed benefit\nof it?  Why should they not turn to the Lord with all their hearts, and\nsay from the heart, Speak Lord, for now thy poor servants hear: O that\nthy will may be done, thy great, thy good, and holy will, in earth as it\nis in heaven! do it in us, do it upon us, do what thou wilt with us; for\nwe are thine, and desire to glorify thee our Creator, both for that, and\nbecause thou art our Redeemer; for thou art redeeming us from the earth,\nfrom the vanities and pollutions of it, to be a peculiar people unto\nthee.  O! this were a brave day for England, if so she could say in\ntruth! but alas, the case is otherwise! for which some of thine\ninhabitants, O land of my nativity! have mourned over thee with bitter\nwailing and lamentation.  Their heads have been, indeed, as waters, and\ntheir eyes as fountains of tears, because of thy transgression and\nstiffneckedness; because thou wilt not hear, and fear, and return to the\nRock, even thy Rock, O England! from whence thou art hewn.  But be thou\nwarned, O land of great profession, to receive him into thy heart.\nBehold, at that door it is he hath stood so long knocking; but thou wilt\nyet have none of him.  O! be thou awakened! lest Jerusalem's judgments do\nswiftly overtake thee, because of Jerusalem's sins that abound in thee.\nFor she abounded in formality, but made void the weighty things of God's\nlaw, as thou daily dost.\n\nShe withstood the Son of God in the flesh, and thou resistest the Son of\nGod in the Spirit.  He would have gathered her, as a hen gathereth her\nchickens under her wings, and she would not; so would he have gathered\nthee out of thy lifeless profession, and have brought thee to inherit\nsubstance; to have known his power and kingdom: for which he often\nknocked within, by his grace and Spirit; and without, by his servants and\nwitnesses: but, on the contrary, as Jerusalem of old persecuted the\nmanifestation of the Son of God in the flesh, and crucified him, and\nwhipped and imprisoned his servants; so hast thou, O land! crucified to\nthyself afresh the Lord of life and glory, and done despite to his Spirit\nof grace; slighting the fatherly visitation, and persecuting the blessed\ndispensers of it by thy laws and magistrates: though they have early and\nlate pleaded with thee in the power and Spirit of the Lord; in love and\nmeekness, that thou mightest know the Lord, and serve him, and become the\nglory of all lands.\n\nBut thou hast evilly entreated and requited them, thou hast set at nought\nall their counsel, and wouldst have none of their reproof, as thou\nshouldst have had.  Their appearance was too straight, and their\nqualifications were too mean for thee to receive them; like the Jews of\nold, that cried, Is not this the Carpenter's Son, and are not his\nbrethren among us; which of the scribes, of the learned (the orthodox)\nbelieve in him?  Prophesying their fall in a year or two, and making and\nexecuting of severe laws to bring it to pass: endeavouring to terrify\nthem out of their holy way, or destroy them for abiding faithful to it.\nBut thou hast seen how many governments that rose against them, and\ndetermined their downfall, have been overturned and extinguished, and\nthat they are still preserved, and become a great and a considerable\npeople, among the middle sort of thy numerous inhabitants.  And\nnotwithstanding the many difficulties without and within, which they have\nlaboured under, since the Lord God eternal first gathered them, they are\nan increasing people; the Lord still adding unto them, in divers parts,\nsuch as shall be saved, if they persevere to the end.  And to thee, O\nEngland! were they, and are they lifted up as a standard, and as a city\nset upon a hill, and to the nations round about thee, that in their light\nthou mayst come to see light, even in Christ Jesus the light of the\nworld, and, therefore, thy light and life too, if thou wouldst but turn\nfrom thy many evil ways, and receive and obey it.  \"For in the light of\nthe Lamb must the nations of them that are saved walk,\" as the scripture\ntestifies.\n\nRemember, O nation of great profession! how the Lord has waited upon thee\nsince the dawning reformation, and the many mercies and judgments by\nwhich he has pleaded with thee; and awake and arise out of thy deep\nsleep, and yet hear his word in thy heart, that thou mayst live.\n\nLet not this thy day of visitation pass over thy head, nor neglect thou\nso great salvation as is this which is come to thy house, O England! for\nwhy shouldst thou die?  O land that God desires to bless, be assured it\nis he that has been in the midst of this people, in the midst of thee,\nand not a delusion, as thy mistaken teachers have made thee believe.  And\nthis thou shalt find by their marks and fruits, if thou wilt consider\nthem in the spirit of moderation.\n\n\n\nCHAP.  III.\n\n\n_Of the Qualifications of their Ministry_.  _Eleven marks that it is\nChristian_.\n\nI.  They were changed men themselves, before they went about to change\nothers.  Their hearts were rent, as well as their garments; and they knew\nthe power and work of God upon them.  And this was seen by the great\nalteration it made, and their stricter course of life, and more godly\nconversation that immediately followed upon it.\n\nII.  They went not forth, or preached, in their own time or will, but in\nthe will of God; and spoke not their own studied matters, but as they\nwere opened and moved of his Spirit, with which they were well acquainted\nin their own conversion: which cannot be expressed to carnal men, so as\nto give them any intelligible account; for to such it is, as Christ said,\nlike the blowing of the wind, which no man knows whence it cometh, or\nwhither it goeth.  Yet this proof and seal went along with their\nministry, that many were turned from their lifeless professions, and the\nevil of their ways, to an inward and experimental knowledge of God, and a\nholy life, as thousands can witness.  And as they freely received what\nthey had to say from the Lord, so they freely administered it to others.\n\nIII.  The bent and stress of their ministry was conversion to God;\nregeneration and holiness.  Not schemes of doctrines and verbal creeds,\nor new forms of worship: but a leaving off in religion the superfluous,\nand reducing the ceremonious and formal part, and pressing earnestly the\nsubstantial, the necessary and profitable part to the soul; as all, upon\na serious reflection, must and do acknowledge.\n\nIV.  They directed people to a principle in themselves, though not of\nthemselves, by which all that they asserted, preached, and exhorted\nothers to, might be wrought in them, and known to them, through\nexperience, to be true; which is a high and distinguishing mark of the\ntruth of their ministry, both that they knew what they said, and were not\nafraid of coming to the test.  For as they were bold from certainty, so\nthey required conformity upon no human authority, but upon conviction,\nand the conviction of this principle, which they asserted was in them\nthat they preached unto: and unto that they directed them, that they\nmight examine and prove the reality of those things which they had\naffirmed of it, as to its manifestation and work in man.  And this is\nmore than the many ministers in the world pretended to.  They declare of\nreligion, say many things true, in words, of God, Christ, and the Spirit;\nof holiness and heaven; that all men should repent and amend their lives,\nor they will go to hell, &c.  But which of them all pretend to speak of\ntheir own knowledge and experience; or ever directed to a divine\nprinciple, or agent, placed of God in man, to help him; and how to know\nit, and wait to feel its power to work that good and acceptable will of\nGod in them?\n\nSome of them, indeed, have spoken of the spirit, and the operations of it\nto sanctification, and performance of worship to God; but where and how\nto find it, and wait in it, to perform our duty to God, was yet as a\nmystery to be declared by this farther degree of reformation.  So that\nthis people did not only in words, more than equally press repentance,\nconversion, and holiness, but did it knowingly and experimentally; and\ndirected those, to whom they preached, to a sufficient principle; and\ntold them where it was, and by what tokens they might know it, and which\nway they might experience the power and efficacy of it to their souls'\nhappiness.  Which is more than theory and speculation, upon which most\nother ministers depend: for here is certainty; a bottom upon which man\nmay boldly appear before God in the great day of account.\n\nV.  They reached to the inward state and condition of people; which is an\nevidence of the virtue of their principle, and of their ministering from\nit, and not from their own imaginations, glosses, or comments upon\nscripture.  For nothing reaches the heart, but what is from the heart; or\npierces the conscience, but what comes from a living conscience; insomuch\nas it hath often happened, where people have under secrecy revealed their\nstate or condition to some choice friends, for advice or ease, they have\nbeen so particularly directed in the ministry of this people, that they\nhave challenged their friends with discovering their secrets, and telling\ntheir preachers their cases, to whom a word hath not been spoken.  Yea,\nthe very thoughts and purposes of the hearts of many have been so plainly\ndetected, that they have, like Nathaniel, cried out, of this inward\nappearance of Christ, \"Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of\nIsrael.\"  And those that have embraced this divine principle, have found\nthis mark of its truth and divinity, that the woman of Samaria did of\nChrist when in the flesh, to be the Messiah, viz. It had told them all\nthat ever they had done; shown them their insides, the most inward\nsecrets of their hearts, and laid judgment to the line, and righteousness\nto the plummet; of which thousands can at this day give in their witness.\nSo that nothing has been affirmed by this people, of the power and virtue\nof this heavenly principle, that such as have turned to it have not found\ntrue, and more; and that one half had not been told to them of what they\nhave seen of the power, purity, wisdom, and goodness of God therein.\n\nVI.  The accomplishments, with which this principle fitted even some of\nthe meanest of this people for their work and service, furnishing some of\nthem with an extraordinary understanding in divine things, and an\nadmirable, fluency, and taking-way of expression, gave occasion to some\nto wonder, saying of them, as of their Master, \"Is not this such a\nmechanic's son, how came he by this learning?\"  As from thence others\ntook occasion to suspect and insinuate they were Jesuits in disguise, who\nhad the reputation of learned men for an age past; though there was not\nthe least ground of truth for any such reflection; in that their\nministers are known, the places of their abode, their kindred and\neducation.\n\nVII.  That they came forth low, and despised, and hated, as the primitive\nChristians did; and not by the help of worldly wisdom or power, as former\nreformations in part have done: but in all things it may be said, this\npeople were brought forth in the cross; in a contradiction to the ways,\nworships, fashions, and customs of this world; yea, against wind and\ntide, that so no flesh might glory before God.\n\nVIII.  They could have no design to themselves in this work, thus to\nexpose themselves to scorn and abuse; to spend and be spent; leaving wife\nand children, house and land, and all that can be accounted dear to men,\nwith their lives in their hands, being daily in jeopardy, to declare this\nprimitive message revived in their spirits, by the good Spirit and power\nof God, viz.\n\nThat God is light, and in him is no darkness at all; and that he has sent\nhis Son a light into the world, to enlighten all men in order to\nsalvation; and that they that say they have fellowship with God, and are\nhis children and people, and yet walk in darkness, viz. in disobedience\nto the light in their consciences, and after the vanity of this world,\nlie and do not the truth.  But that all such as love the light, and bring\ntheir deeds to it, and walk in the light, as God is light, the blood of\nJesus Christ his Son should cleanse them from all sin.  Thus John i. 4.\n19.  Chap. iii. 20, 21.  1 John i. 5, 6, 7.\n\nIX.  Their known great constancy and patience in suffering for their\ntestimony in all the branches of it; and that sometimes unto death, by\nbeatings, bruisings, long and crowded imprisonments, and noisome\ndungeons: four of them in New England dying by the hands of the\nexecutioner, purely for preaching amongst that people: besides\nbanishments, and excessive plunders and sequestrations of their goods and\nestates, almost in all parts, not easily to be expressed, and less to\nhave been endured, but by those that have the support of a good and\nglorious cause; refusing deliverance by any indirect ways or means, as\noften as it was offered unto them.\n\nX.  That they did not only not show any disposition to revenge, when it\nwas at any time in their power, but forgave their cruel enemies; showing\nmercy to those that had none for them.\n\nXI.  Their plainness with those in authority, like the ancient prophets,\nnot fearing to tell them to their faces, of their private and public\nsins; and their prophesies to them of their afflictions and downfal, when\nin the top of their glory: also of some national judgments, as of the\nplague, and fire of London, in express terms; and likewise particular\nones to divers persecutors, which accordingly overtook them; and were\nvery remarkable in the places where they dwelt, which in time may be made\npublic for the glory of God.\n\nThus, reader, thou seest this people in their rise, principles, ministry,\nand progress, both their general and particular testimony; by which thou\nmayst be informed how, and upon what foot, they sprang, and became so\nconsiderable a people.  It remains next, that I show also their care,\nconduct, and discipline as a Christian and reformed society, that they\nmight be found living up to their own principles and profession.  And\nthis the rather, because they have hardly suffered more in their\ncharacter from the unjust charge of error, than by the false imputation\nof disorder: which calumny, indeed, has not failed to follow all the true\nsteps that were ever made to reformation, and under which reproach none\nsuffered more than the primitive Christians themselves, that were the\nhonour of Christianity, and the great lights and examples of their own\nand succeeding ages.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IV.\n\n\n_Of the discipline and practice of this people_, _as a religious\nsociety_.  _The church power they own and exercise_, _and that which they\nreject and condemn_: _with the method of their proceedings against erring\nand disorderly persons_.\n\nThis people increasing daily both in town and country, a holy care fell\nupon some of the elders among them, for the benefit and service of the\nchurch.  And the first business in their view, after the example of the\nprimitive saints, was the exercise of charity; to supply the necessities\nof the poor, and answer the like occasions.  Wherefore collections were\nearly and liberally made for that and divers other services in the\nchurch, and intrusted with faithful men, fearing God, and of good report,\nwho were not weary in well doing; adding often of their own in large\nproportions, which they never brought to account, or desired should be\nknown, much less restored to them, that none might want, nor any service\nbe retarded or disappointed.\n\nThey were also very careful, that every one that belonged to them,\nanswered their profession in their behaviour among men, upon all\noccasions; that they lived peaceably, and were in all things good\nexamples.  They found themselves engaged to record their sufferings and\nservices: and in the case of marriage, which they could not perform in\nthe usual methods of the nation, but among themselves, they took care\nthat all things were clear between the parties and all others: and it was\nthen rare, that any one entertained an inclination to a person on that\naccount, till he or she had communicated it secretly to some very weighty\nand eminent friends among them, that they might have a sense of the\nmatter; looking to the counsel and unity of their brethren as of great\nmoment to them.  But because the charge of the poor, the number of\norphans, marriages, sufferings, and other matters, multiplied; and that\nit was good that the churches were in some way and method of proceeding\nin such affairs among them, to the end they might the better correspond\nupon occasion, where a member of one meeting might have to do with one of\nanother; it pleased the Lord, in his wisdom and goodness, to open the\nunderstanding of the first instrument of this dispensation of life, about\na good and orderly way of proceeding; who felt a holy concern to visit\nthe churches in person throughout this nation, to begin and establish it\namong them: and by his epistles, the like was done in other nations and\nprovinces abroad; which he also afterwards visited, and helped in that\nservice, as shall be observed when I come to speak of him.\n\nNow the care, conduct, and discipline, I have been speaking of, and which\nare now practised among this people, is as followeth.\n\nThis godly elder, in every county where he travelled, exhorted them that\nsome, out of every meeting of worship, should meet together once in the\nmonth, to confer about the wants and occasions of the church.  And, as\nthe case required, so those monthly meetings were fewer or more in number\nin every respective county; four or six meetings of worship, usually\nmaking one monthly meeting of business.  And accordingly, the brethren\nmet him from place to place, and began the said meetings, viz. For the\npoor, orphans, orderly walking, integrity to their profession, births,\nmarriages, burials, sufferings, &c.  And that these monthly meetings\nshould, in each county, make up one quarterly meeting, where the most\nzealous and eminent friends of the county should assemble to communicate,\nadvise, and help one another, especially when any business seemed\ndifficult, or a monthly meeting was tender of determining a matter.\n\nAlso that these several quarterly meetings should digest the reports of\ntheir monthly meetings, and prepare one for each respective county,\nagainst the yearly meeting, in which all quarterly meetings resolve;\nwhich is held in London: where the churches in this nation, and other\nnations {43a} and provinces, meet by chosen members of their respective\ncounties, both mutually to communicate their church affairs, and to\nadvise, and be advised in any depending case, to edification.  Also to\nprovide a requisite stock for the discharge of general expenses for\ngeneral services in the church, not needful to be here particularized.\n{43b}\n\nAt these meetings any of the members of the churches may come, if they\nplease, and speak their minds freely, in the fear of God, to any matter;\nbut the mind of each quarterly meeting, therein represented, is chiefly\nunderstood, as to particular cases, in the sense delivered by the persons\ndeputed, or chosen for that service by the said meeting.\n\nDuring their yearly meeting, to which their other meetings refer in their\norder, and naturally resolve themselves, care is taken by a select\nnumber, for that service chosen by the general assembly, to draw up the\nminutes {44} of the said meeting, upon the several matters that have been\nunder consideration therein, to the end that the respective quarterly and\nmonthly meetings may be informed of all proceedings; together with a\ngeneral exhortation to holiness, unity, and charity.  Of all which\nproceedings in yearly, monthly, and quarterly meetings, due record is\nkept by some one appointed for that service, or that hath voluntarily\nundertaken it.  These meetings are opened and usually concluded in their\nsolemn waiting upon God, who is sometimes graciously pleased to answer\nthem with as signal evidences of his love and presence, as in any of\ntheir meetings of worship.\n\nIt is further to be noted, that in these solemn assemblies for the\nchurches' service, there is no one presides among them after the manner\nof the assemblies of other people; Christ only being their President, as\nhe is pleased to appear in life and wisdom in any one or more of them, to\nwhom, whatever be their capacity or degree, the rest adhere with a firm\nunity, not of authority, but conviction, which is the divine authority\nand way of Christ's power and Spirit in his people: making good his\nblessed promise, \"that he would be in the midst of his, where and\nwhenever they were met together in his name, even to the end of the\nworld.\"  So be it.\n\nNow it may be expected, I should here set down what sort of authority is\nexercised by this people, upon such members of their society as\ncorrespond not in their lives with their profession, and that are\nrefractory to this good and wholesome order settled among them: and the\nrather, because they have not wanted their reproach and sufferings from\nsome tongues and pens, upon this occasion, in a plentiful manner.\n\nThe power they exercise, is such as Christ has given to his own people,\nto the end of the world, in the persons of his disciples, viz. To\noversee, exhort, reprove, and, after long suffering and waiting upon the\ndisobedient and refractory, to disown them, as any longer of their\ncommunion, or that they will stand charged with the behaviour of such\ntransgressors, or their conversation, until they repent.  The subject\nmatter about which this authority, in any of the foregoing branches of\nit, is exercised, is, first, in relation to common and general practice.\nAnd, secondly, about those things that more strictly refer to their own\ncharacter and profession, and which distinguish them from all other\nprofessors of Christianity; avoiding two extremes upon which many split,\nviz. persecution and libertinism, that is, a coercive power to whip\npeople into the temple; that such as will not conform, though against\nfaith and conscience, shall be punished in their persons or estates; or\nleaving all loose and at large, as to practice; and so unaccountable to\nall but God and the magistrate.   To which hurtful extreme, nothing has\nmore contributed than the abuse of church power, by such as suffer their\npassion and private interests to prevail with them, to carry it to\noutward force and corporal punishment: a practice they have been taught\nto dislike, by their extreme sufferings, as well as their known principle\nfor a universal liberty of conscience.\n\nOn the other hand, they equally dislike an independency in society:--an\nunaccountableness, in practice and conversation, to the rules and terms\nof their own communion, and to those that are the members of it.  They\ndistinguish between imposing any practice that immediately regards faith\nor worship, which is never to be done or suffered, or submitted unto; and\nrequiring Christian compliance with those methods that only respect\nchurch-business in its more civil part and concern; and that regard the\ndiscreet and orderly maintenance of the character of the society as a\nsober and religious community.  In short, what is for the promotion of\nholiness and charity, that men may practise what they profess, live up to\ntheir own principles, and not be at liberty to give the lie to their own\nprofession without rebuke, is their use and limit of church power.  They\ncompel none to them, but oblige those that are of them to walk suitably,\nor they are denied by them: that is all the mark they set upon them, and\nthe power they exercise, or judge a Christian society can exercise, upon\nthose that are members of it.\n\nThe way of their proceeding against such as have lapsed or transgressed,\nis this.  He is visited by some of them, and the matter of fact laid home\nto him, be it any evil practice against known and general virtue, or any\nbranch of their particular testimony, which he, in common, professeth\nwith them.  They labour with him in much love and zeal, for the good of\nhis soul, the honour of God, and reputation of their profession, to own\nhis fault and condemn it, in as ample a manner as the evil or scandal was\ngiven by him; which, for the most part, is performed by some written\ntestimony under the party's hand: and if it so happen, that the party\nprove refractory, and is not willing to clear the truth they profess,\nfrom the reproach of his or her evil doing or unfaithfulness, they, after\nrepeated entreaties and due waiting for a token of repentance, give forth\na paper to disown such a fact, and the party offending: recording the\nsame as a testimony of their care for the honour of the truth they\nprofess.\n\nAnd if he or she shall clear their profession and themselves, by sincere\nacknowledgment of their fault, and godly sorrow for so doing, they are\nreceived and looked upon again as members of their communion.  For as\nGod, so his true people, upbraid no man after repentance.\n\nThis is the account I had to give of the people of God called Quakers, as\nto their rise, appearance, principles, and practices, in this age of the\nworld, both with respect to their faith and worship, discipline and\nconversation.  And I judge it very proper in this place, because it is to\npreface the journal of the first, blessed, and glorious instrument of\nthis work, and for a testimony to him in his singular qualifications and\nservices, in which he abundantly excelled in this day, and which are\nworthy to be set forth as an example to all succeeding times, to the\nglory of the most high God, and for a just memorial to that worthy and\nexcellent man, his faithful servant and apostle to this generation of the\nworld.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. V.\n\n\n_Of the first instrument or person by whom God was pleased to gather this\npeople into the way they profess_.  _His name George Fox_: _his many\nexcellent qualifications; showing a divine_, _and not a human power to\nhave been their original in him_.  _His troubles and sufferings both from\nwithout and within_.  _His end and triumph_.\n\nI am now come to the third head or branch of my preface, viz. the\ninstrumental author.  For it is natural for some to say, Well, here is\nthe people and work, but where and who was the man, the instrument?  He\nthat in this age was sent to begin this work and people?  I shall, as God\nshall enable me, declare who and what he was; not only by report of\nothers, but from my own long and most inward converse, and intimate\nknowledge of him; for which my soul blesseth God, as it hath often done:\nand I doubt not, but by that time I have discharged myself of this part\nof my preface, my serious readers will believe I had good cause so to do.\n\nThe blessed instrument of, and in this day of God, and of whom I am now\nabout to write, was George Fox, distinguished from another of that name,\nby that other's addition of younger to his name, in all his writings; not\nthat he was so in years, but that he was so in the truth: but he was also\na worthy man, witness, and servant of God in his time.\n\nBut this George Fox was born in Leicestershire, about the year 1624.  He\ndescended of honest and sufficient parents, who endeavoured to bring him\nup, as they did the rest of their children, in the way and worship of the\nnation: especially his mother, who was a woman accomplished above most of\nher degree in the place where she lived.  But from a child he appeared of\nanother frame of mind than the rest of his brethren; being more\nreligious, inward, still, solid, and observing beyond his years, as the\nanswers he would give, and the questions he would put, upon occasion,\nmanifested, to the astonishment of those that heard him, especially in\ndivine things.\n\nHis mother, taking notice of his singular temper, and the gravity,\nwisdom, and piety, that very early shined through him, refusing childish\nand vain sports, and company, when very young, was tender and indulgent\nover him, so that from her he met with little difficulty.  As to his\nemployment, he was brought up in country business, and as he took most\ndelight in sheep, so he was very skilful in them; an employment that very\nwell suited his mind in several respects, both for its innocency and\nsolitude; and was a just emblem of his after ministry and service.\n\nI shall not break in upon his own account, which is by much the best that\ncan be given, and therefore desire what I can, to avoid saying anything\nof what is said already, as to the particular passages of his coming\nforth: but, in general, when he was somewhat above twenty, he left his\nfriends, and visited the most retired and religious people in those\nparts; and some there were in this nation, who waited for the consolation\nof Israel, night and day; as Zacharias, Anna, and good old Simeon did of\nold time.  To these he was sent, and these he sought out in the\nneighbouring counties, and among them he sojourned till his more ample\nministry came upon him.  At this time he taught, and was an example of,\nsilence, endeavouring to bring them from self-performances; testifying\nof, and turning them to, the light of Christ within them, and encouraging\nthem to wait in patience, and to feel the power of it to stir in their\nhearts, that their knowledge and worship of God might stand in the power\nof an endless life, which was to be found in the light, as it was obeyed\nin the manifestation of it in man.  For in the word was life, and that\nlife is the light of men: life in the word, light in men; and life in men\ntoo, as the light is obeyed: the children of the light living by the life\nof the word, by which the word begets them again to God, which is the\nregeneration and new birth, without which there is no coming into the\nkingdom of God: and to which whoever comes, is greater than John; that\nis, than John's dispensation, which was not that of the kingdom, but the\nconsummation of the legal, and fore-running of the gospel-times, the time\nof the kingdom.  Accordingly several meetings were gathered in those\nparts; and thus his time was employed for some years.\n\nIn 1652, he being in his usual retirement, his mind exercised towards the\nLord, upon a very high mountain in some of the higher parts of Yorkshire,\nas I take it, he had a vision of the great work of God in the earth, and\nof the way that he was to go forth in a public ministry, to begin it.  He\nsaw people as thick as motes in the sun, that should in time be brought\nhome to the Lord, that there might be but one shepherd and one sheepfold\nin all the earth.  There his eye was directed northward, beholding a\ngreat people that should receive him and his message in those parts.\nUpon this mountain he was moved of the Lord to sound out his great and\nnotable day, as if he had been in a great auditory; and from thence went\nnorth, as the Lord had shown him.  And in every place where he came, if\nnot before he came to it, he had his particular exercise and service\nshown to him, so that the Lord was his leader indeed.  For it was not in\nvain that he travelled; God in most places sealing his commission with\nthe convincement of some of all sorts, as well publicans as sober\nprofessors of religion.  Some of the first and most eminent of those that\ncame forth in a public ministry, and who are now at rest, were Richard\nFarnsworth, James Nayler, William Dewsberry, Thomas Aldam, Francis\nHowgil, Edward Burroughs, John Camm, John Audland, Richard Hubberthorn,\nT. Taylor, T. Holmes, Alexander Parker, Wm.  Simson, William Caton, John\nStubbs, Robert Withers, Thomas Low, Josiah Coale, John Burnyeat, Robert\nLodge, Thomas Salthouse, and many more worthies, that cannot well be here\nnamed; together with divers yet living of the first and great\nconvincement; who, after the knowledge of God's purging judgment in\nthemselves, and some time of waiting in silence upon him, to feel and\nreceive power from on high to speak in his name, (which none else rightly\ncan, though they may use the same words,) felt its divine motions, and\nwere frequently drawn forth, especially to visit the public assemblies,\nto reprove, inform, and exhort them: sometimes in markets, fairs,\nstreets, and by the highway-side: calling people to repentance, and to\nturn to the Lord with their hearts as well as their mouths; directing\nthem to the light of Christ within them, to see, examine, and consider\ntheir ways by, and to eschew the evil, and do the good and acceptable\nwill of God.  And they suffered great hardships for this their love and\ngood-will; being often stocked, stoned, beaten, whipped, and imprisoned,\nthough honest men, and of good report where they lived; that had left\nwives, children, and houses and lands to visit them with a living call to\nrepentance.  And though the priests generally set themselves to oppose\nthem, and wrote against them, and insinuated most false and scandalous\nstories to defame them, stirring up the magistrates to suppress them,\nespecially in those northern parts; yet God was pleased to fill them with\nhis living power, and give them such an open door of utterance in his\nservice, that there was a mighty convincement over those parts.\n\nAnd through the tender and singular indulgence of judge Bradshaw, and\njudge Fell, and colonel West, in the infancy of things, the priests were\nnever able to gain the point they laboured for, which was to have\nproceeded to blood; and, if possible, Herod-like, by a cruel exercise of\nthe civil power, to have cut them off, and rooted them out of the\ncountry.  But especially judge Fell, who was not only a check to their\nrage in the course of legal proceedings, but otherwise upon occasion; and\nfinally countenanced this people.  For, his wife receiving the truth with\nthe first, it had that influence upon his spirit, being a just and wise\nman, and seeing in his own wife and family a full confutation of all the\npopular clamours against the way of truth, that he covered them what he\ncould, and freely opened his doors, and gave up his house to his wife and\nher friends; not valuing the reproach of ignorant or evil-minded people:\nwhich I here mention to his and her honour, and which will be, I believe,\nan honour and a blessing to such of their name and family, as shall be\nfound in that tenderness, humility, love, and zeal for the truth and\npeople of the Lord.\n\nThat house was for some years, at first especially, until the truth had\nopened its way into the southern parts of this island, an eminent\nreceptacle of this people.  Others, of good note and substance in those\nnorthern countries, had also opened their houses, together with their\nhearts, to the many publishers, that, in a short time, the Lord had\nraised to declare his salvation to the people; and where meetings of the\nLord's messengers were frequently held, to communicate their services and\nexercises, and comfort and edify one another in their blessed ministry.\n\nBut lest this may be thought a digression, having touched upon this\nbefore, I return to this excellent man; and for his personal qualities,\nboth natural, moral, and divine, as they appeared in his converse with\nthe brethren, and in the church of God, take as follows:\n\nI.  He was a man that God endued with a clear and wonderful depth: a\ndiscerner of others' spirits, and very much a master of his own.  And\nthough that side of his understanding which lay next to the world, and\nespecially the expression of it, might sound uncouth and unfashionable to\nnice ears, his matter was nevertheless very profound; and would not only\nbear to be often considered, but the more it was so, the more weighty and\ninstructing it appeared.  And as abruptly and brokenly as sometimes his\nsentences would seem to fall from him, about divine things, it is well\nknown they were often as texts to many fairer declarations.\n\nAnd indeed it showed, beyond all contradiction, that God sent him, in\nthat no arts or parts had any share in the matter or manner of his\nministry; and that so many great, excellent, and necessary truths, as he\ncame forth to preach to mankind, had therefore nothing of man's wit or\nwisdom to recommend them.  So that as to man he was an original, being no\nman's copy; and his ministry and writings show they are from one that was\nnot taught of man, nor had learned what he said by study.  Nor were they\nnotional or speculative, but sensible and practical truths, tending to\nconversion and regeneration, and the setting up of the kingdom of God in\nthe hearts of men: and the way of it was his work.  So that I have many\ntimes been overcome in myself, and been made to say, with my Lord and\nMaster, upon the like occasion, \"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven\nand earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent of\nthis world, and revealed them to babes:\" for, many times hath my soul\nbowed in an humble thankfulness to the Lord, that he did not choose any\nof the wise and learned of this world to be the first messenger in our\nage, of his blessed truth to men; but that he took one that was not of\nhigh degree, or elegant speech, or learned after the way of this world,\nthat his message and work he sent him to do might come with less\nsuspicion, or jealousy of human wisdom and interest, and with more force\nand clearness upon the consciences of those that sincerely sought the way\nof truth in the love of it.  I say, beholding with the eye of my mind,\nwhich the God of heaven had opened in me, the marks of God's finger and\nhand visibly in this testimony, from the clearness of the principle, the\npower and efficacy of it, in the exemplary sobriety, plainness, zeal,\nsteadiness, humility, gravity, punctuality, charity, and circumspect care\nin the government of church-affairs, which shined in his and their life\nand testimony, that God employed in this work, it greatly confirmed me\nthat it was of God, and engaged my soul in a deep love, fear, reverence,\nand thankfulness for his love and mercy therein to mankind: in which mind\nI remain, and shall, I hope, through the Lord's strength, to the end of\nmy days.\n\nII.  In his testimony or ministry, he much laboured to open truth to the\npeople's understandings, and to bottom them upon the principle and\nprincipal, Christ Jesus the light of the world; that by bringing them to\nsomething that was from God in themselves, they might the better know and\njudge of him and themselves.\n\nIII.  He had an extraordinary gift in opening the scriptures.  He would\ngo to the marrow of things, and show the mind, harmony, and fulfilling of\nthem, with much plainness, and to great comfort and edification.\n\nIV.  The mystery of the first and second Adam, of the fall and\nrestoration, of the law and gospel, of shadows and substance, of the\nservant's and Son's state, and the fulfilling of the scriptures in Christ\nand by Christ the true light, in all that are his, through the obedience\nof faith, were much of the substance and drift of his testimonies: in all\nwhich he was witnessed to be of God: being sensibly felt to speak that\nwhich he had received of Christ, and was his own experience, in that\nwhich never errs nor fails.\n\nV.  But, above all, he excelled in prayer.  The inwardness and weight of\nhis spirit, the reverence and solemnity of his address and behaviour, and\nthe fewness and fulness of his words, have often struck even strangers\nwith admiration, as they used to reach others with consolation.  The most\nawful, living, reverent frame I ever felt or beheld, I must say, was his\nin prayer.  And truly it was a testimony he knew and lived nearer to the\nLord than other men; for they that know Him most, will see most reason to\napproach him with reverence and fear.\n\nVI.  He was of an innocent life, no busy-body, nor self-seeker: neither\ntouchy nor critical: what fell from him was very inoffensive, if not very\nedifying.  So meek, contented, modest, easy, steady, tender, it was a\npleasure to be in his company.  He exercised no authority but over evil,\nand that everywhere, and in all; but with love, compassion, and\nlong-suffering.  A most merciful man, as ready to forgive, as unapt to\ntake or give an offence.  Thousands can truly say, he was of an excellent\nspirit and savour among them, and because thereof, the most excellent\nspirits loved him with an unfeigned and unfading love.\n\nVII.  He was an incessant labourer: for in his younger time, before his\nmany, great, and deep sufferings and travels had enfeebled his body for\nitinerant services, he laboured much in the word and doctrine, and\ndiscipline, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, turning many to God, and\nconfirming those that were convinced of the truth, and settling good\norder, as to church affairs, among them.  And towards the conclusion of\nhis travelling service, between the years 1671, and 1677, he visited the\nchurches of Christ in the plantations of America, and in the United\nProvinces, and Germany, as his journal relates; to the convincement and\nconsolation of many.  After that time he chiefly resided in and about the\ncity of London; and, besides his labour in the ministry, which was\nfrequent and serviceable, he wrote much, both to them that are within,\nand those that are without, the communion.\n\nBut the care he took of the affairs of the church in general was very\ngreat.\n\nVIII.  He was often where the records of the business of the church are\nkept, and where the letters from the many meetings of God's people over\nall the world use to come: which letters he had read to him, and\ncommunicated them to the meeting, that is weekly {57} held for such\nservices; and he would be sure to stir them up to answer them, especially\nin suffering cases, showing great sympathy and compassion upon all such\noccasions; carefully looking into the respective cases, and endeavouring\nspeedy relief, according to the nature of them.  So that the churches, or\nany of the suffering members thereof, were sure not to be forgotten, or\ndelayed in their desires, if he was there.\n\nIX.  As he was unwearied, so he was undaunted in his services for God and\nhis people; he was no more to be moved to fear than to wrath.  His\nbehaviour at Derby, Lichfield, Appleby, before Oliver Cromwell, at\nLaunceston, Scarborough, Worcester, and Westminster Hall, with many other\nplaces and exercises, did abundantly evidence it, to his enemies as well\nas his friends.\n\nBut as, in the primitive times, some rose up against the blessed apostles\nof our Lord Jesus Christ, even from among those that they had turned to\nthe hope of the gospel, and became their greatest trouble; so this man of\nGod had his share of suffering from some that were convinced by him; who,\nthrough prejudice or mistake, ran against him, as one that sought\ndominion over conscience, because he pressed, by his presence or\nepistles, a ready and zealous compliance with such good and wholesome\nthings, as tended to an orderly conversation about the affairs of the\nchurch, and in their walking before men.  That which contributed much to\nthis ill work, was, in some, a begrudging of this meek man the love and\nesteem he had and deserved in the hearts of the people; and weakness in\nothers, that were taken with their groundless suggestions of imposition\nand blind obedience.\n\nThey would have had every man independent, that as he had the principle\nin himself, he should only stand and fall to that, and nobody else: not\nconsidering that the principle is one in all; and though the measure of\nlight or grace might differ, yet the nature of it was the same; and being\nso, they struck at the spiritual unity which a people, guided by the same\nprinciple, are naturally led into: so that what is an evil to one, is so\nto all; and what is virtuous, honest, and of good repute to one, is so to\nall, from the sense and savour of the one universal principle which is\ncommon to all, and which the disaffected also profess to be the root of\nall true Christian fellowship, and that spirit into which the people of\nGod drink, and come to be spiritually-minded, and of one heart and one\nsoul.\n\nSome weakly mistook good order in the government of church affairs, for\ndiscipline in worship, and that it was so pressed or recommended by him\nand other brethren.  And thereupon they were ready to reflect the same\nthings that dissenters had very reasonably objected upon the national\nchurches, that have coercively pressed conformity to their respective\ncreeds and worships.  Whereas these things related wholly to\nconversation, and the outward, and, as I may say, civil part of the\nchurch; that men should walk up to the principles of their belief, and\nnot be wanting in care and charity.  But though some have stumbled and\nfallen through mistakes, and an unreasonable obstinacy even to a\nprejudice; yet, blessed be God, the generality have returned to their\nfirst love, and seen the work of the enemy, that loses no opportunity or\nadvantage by which he may check or hinder the work of God, and disquiet\nthe peace of his church, and chill the love of his people to the truth,\nand one to another; and there is hope of divers of the few that yet are\nat a distance.\n\nIn all these occasions, though there was no person the discontented\nstruck so sharply at, as this good man, he bore all their weakness and\nprejudice, and returned not reflection for reflection; but forgave them\ntheir weak and bitter speeches, praying for them, that they might have a\nsense of their hurt, and see the subtilty of the enemy to rend and\ndivide, and return into their first love that thought no ill.\n\nAnd truly, I must say, that though God had visibly clothed him with a\ndivine preference and authority, yet he never abused it; but held his\nplace in the church of God with great meekness, and a most engaging\nhumility and moderation.  For upon all occasions, like his blessed\nMaster, he was a servant to all; holding and exercising his eldership in\nthe invisible power that had gathered them, with reverence to the Head,\nand care over the body: and was received, only in that Spirit and power\nof Christ, as the first and chief elder in this age: who, as he was\ntherefore worthy of double honour, so for the same reason it was given by\nthe faithful of this day; because his authority was inward and not\noutward, and that he got it and kept it by the love of God, and power of\nan endless life.  I write my knowledge, and not report; and my witness is\ntrue; having been with him for weeks and months together on divers\noccasions, and those of the nearest, and most exercising nature; and that\nby night and by day, by sea and by land; in this and in foreign\ncountries; and I can say, I never saw him out of his place, or not a\nmatch for every service or occasion.  For in all things he acquitted\nhimself like a man, yea, a strong man, a new and heavenly-minded man, a\ndivine and a naturalist, and all of God Almighty's making.  I have been\nsurprised at his questions and answers in natural things: that whilst he\nwas ignorant of useless and sophistical science, he had in him the\ngrounds of useful and commendable knowledge, and cherished it every\nwhere.  Civil, beyond all forms of breeding, in his behaviour: very\ntemperate, eating little, and sleeping less, though a bulky person.\n\nThus he lived and sojourned among us: and, as he lived, so he died;\nfeeling the same eternal power, that had raised and preserved him, in his\nlast moments.  So full of assurance was he, that he triumphed over death;\nand so even in his spirit to the last, as if death were hardly worth\nnotice, or a mention: recommending to some of us with him, the despatch\nand dispersion of an epistle just before given forth by him to the\nchurches of Christ throughout the world, and his own books: but, above\nall, Friends; and of all Friends, those in Ireland and America, twice\nover, saying, \"Mind poor Friends in Ireland and America.\"\n\nAnd to some that came in and inquired how he found himself, he answered,\n\"Never heed, the Lord's power is over all weakness and death; the seed\nreigns, blessed be the Lord:\" which was about four or five hours before\nhis departure out of this world.  He was at the great meeting near\nLombard-street, on the first day of the week, and it was the third\nfollowing about ten at night when he left us; being at the house of Henry\nGoldney, in the same court.  In a good old age he went, after having\nlived to see his children's children in the truth to many generations.\nHe had the comfort of a short illness, and the blessing of a clear sense\nto the last: and we may truly say, with a man of God of old, that being\ndead, he yet speaketh: and though now absent in body, he is present in\nspirit; neither time nor place being able to interrupt the communion of\nsaints, or dissolve the fellowship of the spirits of the just.  His works\npraise him, because they are to the praise of Him that wrought by him;\nfor which his memorial is and shall be blessed.  I have done, as to this\npart of my preface, when I have left this short epitaph to his\nname,--Many sons have done virtuously in this day; but, dear George, thou\nexcellest them all.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VI.\n\n\n_Containing five several exhortations_: _first_, _general_, _reminding\nthis people of their primitive integrity and simplicity_.  _Secondly_,\n_in particular_, _to the ministry_.  _Thirdly_, _to the young convinced_.\n_Fourthly_, _to the children of Friends_.  _Fifthly_, _to those that are\nyet strangers to this people and way_, _to whom this book_, _and that\nwhich it was preface to_, _in its former edition_, _may come_.  _All the\nseveral exhortations accommodated to their several states and\nconditions_: _that all may answer the end of God's glory_, _and their own\nsalvation_.\n\nAnd now, Friends, you that profess to walk in the way that this blessed\nman was sent of God to turn us into, suffer, I beseech you, the word of\nexhortation, as well fathers as children, and elders as young men.  The\nglory of this day, and foundation of the hope that has not made us\nashamed since we were a people, you know, is that blessed principle of\nlight and life of Christ which we profess, and direct all people to, as\nthe great and divine instrument and agent of man's conversion to God.  It\nwas by this that we were first touched, and effectually enlightened, as\nto our inward state; which put us upon the consideration of our latter\nend, causing us to set the Lord before our eyes, and to number our days,\nthat we might apply our hearts to wisdom.  In that day we judged not\nafter the sight of the eye, or after the hearing of the ear; but\naccording to the light and sense this blessed principle gave us, so we\njudged and acted, in reference to things and persons, ourselves and\nothers; yea, towards God our Maker.  For being quickened by it in our\ninward man, we could easily discern the difference of things, and feel\nwhat was right and what was wrong, and what was fit, and what not, both\nin reference to religion and civil concerns.  That being the ground of\nthe fellowship of all saints, it was in that our fellowship stood.  In\nthis we desired to have a sense of one another, acted towards one\nanother, and all men; in love, faithfulness, and fear.\n\nIn feeling of the stirrings and motions of this principle in our hearts,\nwe drew near to the Lord, and waited to be prepared by it, that we might\nfeel drawings and movings before we approached the Lord in prayer, or\nopened our mouths in ministry.  And in our beginning and ending with\nthis, stood our comfort, service, and edification.  And as we ran faster,\nor fell short in our services, we made burdens for ourselves to bear;\nfinding in ourselves a rebuke instead of an acceptance; and, in lieu of\n\"Well-done,\" \"Who has required this at your hands?\"  In that day we were\nan exercised people, our very countenances and deportment declared it.\n\nCare for others was then much upon us, as well as for ourselves;\nespecially of the young convinced.  Often had we the burden of the word\nof the Lord to our neighbours, relations, and acquaintance; and sometimes\nstrangers also.  We were in travail likewise for one another's\npreservation; not seeking, but shunning, occasions of any coldness or\nmisunderstanding; treating one another as those that believed and felt\nGod present; which kept our conversation innocent, serious, and weighty;\nguarding ourselves against the cares and friendships of the world.  We\nheld the truth in the Spirit of it, and not in our own spirits, or after\nour own wills and affections.\n\nWe were bowed and brought into subjection, insomuch that it was visible\nto them that knew us.  We did not think ourselves at our own disposal, to\ngo where we list, or say or do what we list, or when we list.  Our\nliberty stood in the liberty of the Spirit of truth; and no pleasure, no\nprofit, no fear, no favour, could draw us from this retired, strict, and\nwatchful frame.  We were so far from seeking occasions of company, that\nwe avoided them what we could; pursuing our own business with moderation,\ninstead of meddling with other people's unnecessarily.\n\nOur words were few and savoury, our looks composed and weighty, and our\nwhole deportment very observable.  True it is, that this retired and\nstrict sort of life, from the liberty of the conversation of the world,\nexposed us to the censures of many, as humourists, conceited and\nself-righteous persons, &c.; but it was our preservation from many\nsnares, to which others were continually exposed, by the prevalency of\nthe lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, that\nwanted no occasions or temptations to excite them abroad in the converse\nof the world.\n\nI cannot forget the humility and chaste zeal of that day.  O! how\nconstant at meetings, how retired in them; how firm to truth's life, as\nwell as truth's principles; and how entire and united in our communion,\nas, indeed, became those that profess one head, even Christ Jesus the\nLord.\n\nThis being the testimony and example the man of God before mentioned was\nsent to declare and leave amongst us, and we having embraced the same, as\nthe merciful visitation of God to us, the word of exhortation, at this\ntime, is that we continue to be found in the way of this testimony, with\nall zeal and integrity, and so much the more, by how much the day draweth\nnear.  And first, as to you my beloved and much honoured brethren in\nChrist, that are in the exercise of the ministry: O! feel life in your\nministry.  Let life be your commission, your well-spring and treasury on\nall such occasions; else, you well know, there can be no begetting to\nGod: since nothing can quicken or make people alive to God, but the life\nof God; and it must be a ministry in and from life, that enlivens any\npeople to God.  We have seen the fruit of all other ministries, by the\nfew that are turned from the evil of their ways.  It is not our parts, or\nmemory, the repetition of former openings, in our own will and time, that\nwill do God's work.  A dry doctrinal ministry, however sound in words,\ncan reach but the ears, and is but a dream at the best.  There is another\nsoundness that is soundest of all, viz. Christ the power of God.  This is\nthe key of David, that opens, and none shuts; and shuts and none can\nopen: as the oil to the lamp, and the soul to the body, so is that to the\nbest of words: which made Christ to say, \"My words, they are Spirit, and\nthey are life;\" that is, they are from life, and therefore they make you\nalive, that receive them.  If the disciples that had lived with Jesus,\nwere to stay at Jerusalem till they received it; much more must we wait\nto receive before we minister, if we will turn people from darkness to\nlight, and from satan's power to God.\n\nI fervently bow my knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,\nthat you may always be like-minded; that you may ever wait reverently for\nthe coming and opening of the word of life, and attend upon it in your\nministry and service, that you may serve God in his Spirit.  And be it\nlittle, or be it much, it is well; for much is not too much, and the\nleast is enough, if from the motion of God's Spirit; and without it,\nverily, never so little is too much, because to no profit.\n\nFor it is the Spirit of the Lord immediately, or through the ministry of\nhis servants, that teacheth his people to profit; and to be sure, so far\nas we take him along with us in our services, so far we are profitable,\nand no further.  For if it be the Lord that must work all things in us\nfor our salvation, much more is it the Lord that must work in us for the\nconversion of others.  If therefore it was once a cross to us to speak,\nthough the Lord required it at our hands, let it never be so to be\nsilent, when he does not.\n\nIt is one of the most dreadful sayings in the book of God, \"That he that\nadds to the words of the prophecy of this book, God will add to him the\nplagues written in this book.\"  To keep back the counsel of God, is as\nterrible; \"For he that takes away from the words of the book of this\nprophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life.\"  And\ntruly, it has great caution in it, to those that use the name of the\nLord, to be well assured the Lord speaks; that they may not be found of\nthe number of those that add to the words of the testimony of prophecy,\nwhich the Lord giveth them to bear; nor yet to mince or diminish the\nsame, both being so very offensive to God.\n\nWherefore, Brethren, let us be careful, neither to out-go our guide, nor\nyet loiter behind him; since he that makes haste may miss his way, and he\nthat stays behind lose his guide.  For even those that have received the\nword of the Lord, had need wait for wisdom, that they may see how to\ndivide the word aright: which plainly implieth, that it is possible for\none that hath received the word of the Lord, to miss in the dividing and\napplication of it; which must come from an impatiency of spirit, and a\nself-working, which makes an unsound and dangerous mixture, and will\nhardly beget a right-minded living people to God.\n\nI am earnest in this, above all other considerations, as to brethren in\nthe ministry, (well knowing how much it concerns the present and future\nstate and preservation of the church of Christ Jesus, that has been\ngathered and built up by a living and powerful ministry,) that the\nministry be held, preserved, and continued in the manifestations,\nmotions, and supplies of the same life and power, from time to time.\n\nAnd wherever it is observed, that any do minister more from gifts and\nparts, than life and power, though they have an enlightened and doctrinal\nunderstanding, let them in time be advised and admonished for their\npreservation, because insensibly such will come to depend upon a\nself-sufficiency; to forsake Christ the living Fountain, and hew out unto\nthemselves cisterns, that will hold no living waters: and, by degrees,\nsuch will come to draw others from waiting upon the gift of God in\nthemselves, and to feel it in others, in order to their strength and\nrefreshment, to wait upon them, and to turn from God to man again, and so\nmake shipwreck of the faith once delivered to the saints, and of a good\nconscience towards God: which are only kept by that divine gift of life\nthat begat the one, and awakened and sanctified the other in the\nbeginning.\n\nNor is it enough, that we have known the divine gift, and in it have\nreached to the spirits in prison, and been the instruments of the\nconvincing of others of the way of God, if we keep not as low and poor in\nourselves, and as depending upon the Lord, as ever: since no memory, no\nrepetitions of former openings, revelations, or enjoyments, will bring a\nsoul to God, or afford bread to the hungry, or water to the thirsty,\nunless life go with what we say, and that must be waited for.\n\nO that we may have no other fountain, treasure, or dependence!  That none\nmay presume at any rate to act of themselves for God, because they have\nlong acted from God; that we may not supply want of waiting, with our own\nwisdom, or think that we may take less care and more liberty in speaking\nthan formerly; and that where we do not feel the Lord by his power, to\nopen us and enlarge us, whatever be the expectation of the people, or has\nbeen our customary supply and character, we may not exceed or fill up the\ntime with our own.\n\nI hope we shall ever remember, who it was that said, \"Of yourselves you\ncan do nothing;\" our sufficiency is in him.  And if we are not to speak\nour own words, or take thought what we should say to men in our defence,\nwhen exposed for our testimony; surely, we ought to speak none of our own\nwords, or take thought what we shall say in our testimony and ministry,\nin the name of the Lord, to the souls of the people: for then, of all\ntimes, and of all other occasions, should it be fulfilled in us, \"For it\nis not you that speak, but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you.\"\n\nAnd, indeed, the ministry of the Spirit must and does keep its analogy\nand agreement with the birth of the Spirit: that as no man can inherit\nthe kingdom of God, unless he be born of the Spirit; so no ministry can\nbeget a soul to God, but that which is from the Spirit.  For this, as I\nsaid before, the disciples waited before they went forth; and in this our\nelder brethren and messengers of God in our day, waited, visited, and\nreached to us; and having begun in the Spirit, let none ever hope or seek\nto be made perfect in the flesh: for what is the flesh to the Spirit, or\nthe chaff to the wheat?  And if we keep in the Spirit, we shall keep in\nthe unity of it, which is the ground of true fellowship.  For by drinking\ninto that one Spirit, we are made one people to God, and by it we are\ncontinued in the unity of the faith, and the bond of peace.  No envying,\nno bitterness, no strife, can have place with us.  We shall watch always\nfor good, and not for evil, one over another; and rejoice exceedingly,\nand not begrudge at one another's increase in the riches of the grace\nwith which God replenisheth his faithful servants.\n\nAnd Brethren, as to you is committed the dispensation of the oracles of\nGod, which give you frequent opportunities, and great place with the\npeople among whom you travel, I beseech you, that you would not think it\nsufficient to declare the word of life in their assemblies, however\nedifying and comfortable such opportunities may be to you and them: but,\nas was the practice of the man of God before mentioned, in great measure,\nwhen among us, inquire the state of the several churches you visit; who\namong them are afflicted or sick, who are tempted, and if any are\nunfaithful or obstinate; and endeavour to issue those things in the\nwisdom and power of God, which will be a glorious crown upon your\nministry.  As that prepares your way in the hearts of the people, to\nreceive you as men of God, so it gives you credit with them to do them\ngood by your advice in other respects; the afflicted will be comforted by\nyou, the tempted strengthened, the sick refreshed, the unfaithful\nconvicted and restored, and such as are obstinate, softened and fitted\nfor reconciliation; which is clinching the nail, and applying and\nfastening the general testimony, by this particular care of the several\nbranches of it, in reference to them more immediately concerned in it.\n\nFor though good and wise men, and elders too, may reside in such places,\nwho are of worth and importance in the general, and in other places; yet\nit does not always follow, that they may have the room they deserve in\nthe hearts of the people they live among; or some particular occasion may\nmake it unfit for him or them to use that authority.  But you that travel\nas God's messengers, if they receive you in the greater, shall they\nrefuse you in the less?  And if they own the general testimony, can they\nwithstand the particular application of it in their own cases?  Thus ye\nwill show yourselves workmen indeed, and carry your business before you,\nto the praise of his name that hath called you from darkness to light,\nthat you might turn others from satan's power unto God and his kingdom,\nwhich is within.  And O that there were more of such faithful labourers\nin the vineyard of the Lord!--Never more need since the day of God.\n\nWherefore I cannot but cry and call aloud to you, that have been long\nprofessors of the truth, and know the truth in the convincing power of\nit, and have had a sober conversation among men; yet content yourselves\nonly to know truth for yourselves, to go to meetings, and exercise an\nordinary charity in the church, and an honest behaviour in the world, and\nlimit yourselves within those bounds; feeling little or no concern upon\nyour spirits, for the glory of the Lord in the prosperity of his truth in\nthe earth, more than to be glad that others succeed in such service.\nArise ye in the name and power of the Lord Jesus!  Behold how white the\nfields are unto harvest, in this and other nations, and how few able and\nfaithful labourers there are to work therein!  Your country-folks,\nneighbours, and kindred, want to know the Lord and his truth, and to walk\nin it.  Does nothing lie at your door upon their account!  Search and\nsee, and lose no time, I beseech you, for the Lord is at hand.\n\nI do not judge you; there is one that judgeth all men, and his judgment\nis true.  You have mightily increased in your outward substance, may you\nequally increase in your inward riches, and do good with both, while you\nhave a day to do good.  Your enemies would once have taken what you had,\nfrom you, for his name's sake in whom you have believed; wherefore he has\ngiven you much of the world, in the face of your enemies.  But O, let it\nbe your servant, and not your master! your diversion rather than your\nbusiness! let the Lord be chiefly in your eye, and ponder your ways, and\nsee if God has nothing more for you to do: and if you find yourselves\nshort in your account with him, then wait for his preparation, and be\nready to receive the word of command, and be not weary of well-doing,\nwhen you have put your hand to the plough; and, assuredly, you shall\nreap, if you faint not, the fruit of your heavenly labour in God's\neverlasting kingdom.\n\nAnd you, young convinced ones, be you entreated and exhorted to a\ndiligent and chaste waiting upon God, in the way of his blessed\nmanifestation and appearance of himself to you.  Look not out, but\nwithin: let not another's liberty be your snare: neither act by\nimitation, but by sense and feeling of God's power in yourselves: crush\nnot the tender buddings of it in your souls, nor over-run, in your\ndesires and warmness of affections, the holy and gentle motions of it.\nRemember it is a still voice that speaks to us in this day, and that it\nis not to be heard in the noises and hurries of the mind; but is\ndistinctly understood in a retired frame.  Jesus loved and chose\nsolitudes, often going to mountains, gardens, and sea sides, to avoid\ncrowds and hurries: to show his disciples it was good to be solitary, and\nsit loose to the world.  Two enemies lie near your states, imagination\nand liberty; but the plain, practical, living, holy truth, that has\nconvinced you, will preserve you, if you mind it in yourselves, and bring\nall thoughts, inclinations, and affections, to the test of it, to see if\nthey are wrought in God, or of the enemy, or of your ownselves: so will a\ntrue taste, discerning, and judgment, be preserved to you, of what you\nshould do and leave undone.  And in your diligence and faithfulness in\nthis way, you will come to inherit substance; and Christ, the eternal\nwisdom, will fill your treasury.  And when you are converted, as well as\nconvinced, then confirm your brethren; and be ready to every good word\nand work, that the Lord shall call you to: that you may be to his praise,\nwho has chosen you to be partakers, with the saints in light, of a\nkingdom that cannot be shaken, an inheritance incorruptible in eternal\nhabitations.\n\nAnd now, as for you that are the children of God's people, a great\nconcern is upon my spirit for your good and often are my knees bowed to\nthe God of your fathers for you, that you may come to be partakers of the\nsame divine life and power, that have been the glory of this day: that a\ngeneration you may be to God, a holy nation, and a peculiar people,\nzealous of good works, when all our heads are laid in the dust.  O! you\nyoung men and women, let it not suffice you, that you are the children of\nthe people of the Lord; you must also be born again, if you will inherit\nthe kingdom of God.  Your fathers are but such after the flesh, and could\nbut beget you into the likeness of the first Adam; but you must be\nbegotten into the likeness of the second Adam, by a spiritual generation,\nor you will not, you cannot, be of his children or offspring.  And\ntherefore look carefully about you, O ye children of the children of God;\nconsider your standing, and see what you are in relation to this divine\nkindred, family, and birth.  Have you obeyed the light, and received and\nwalked in the Spirit, which is the incorruptible seed of the word and\nkingdom of God, of which you must be born again?  God is no respecter of\npersons.  The father cannot save or answer for the child, or the child\nfor the father; but in the sin thou sinnest thou shalt die; and in the\nrighteousness thou doest, through Christ Jesus, thou shalt live: for it\nis the willing and obedient that shall eat the good of the land.  Be not\ndeceived, God is mocked.  Such as all nations and people sow, such they\nshall reap at the hand of the just God.  And then your many and great\nprivileges, above the children of other people, will add weight in the\nscale against you, if you choose not the way of the Lord.  For you have\nhad line upon line, and precept upon precept, and not only good doctrine\nbut good example; and which is more, you have been turned to, and\nacquainted with, a principle in yourselves, which others too generally\nhave been ignorant of: and you know you may be as good as you please,\nwithout the fear of frowns and blows, or being turned out of doors, and\nforsaken of father and mother, for God's sake and his holy religion; as\nhas been the case of some of your fathers in the day they first entered\ninto this holy path.  And if you, after hearing and seeing the wonders\nthat God has wrought in the deliverance and preservation of them, through\na sea of troubles, and the manifold temporal, as well as spiritual,\nblessings that he has filled them with, in the sight of their enemies,\nshould neglect and turn your backs upon so great and near a salvation,\nyou would not only be most ungrateful children to God and them, but must\nexpect that God will call the children of those that knew him not, to\ntake the crown out of your hands, and that your lot will be a dreadful\njudgment at the hand of the Lord: but, O that it may never be so with any\nof you!  The Lord forbid, saith my soul.\n\nWherefore, O ye young men and women! look to the rock of your fathers:\nthere is no other God but him, no other light but his, no other grace but\nhis, nor spirit but his, to convince you, quicken, and comfort you; to\nlead, guide, and preserve you to God's everlasting kingdom.  So will you\nbe possessors as well as professors of the truth, embracing it, not only\nby education, but judgment and conviction; from a sense begotten in your\nsouls, through the operation of the eternal Spirit and power of God; by\nwhich you may come to be the seed of Abraham, through faith, and the\ncircumcision not made with hands; and so heirs of the promise made to the\nfathers, of an incorruptible crown.  That, as I said before, a generation\nyou may be to God, holding up the profession of the blessed truth in the\nlife and power of it.  For formality in religion is nauseous to God and\ngood men; and the more so, where any form or appearance has been new and\npeculiar, and begun and practised, upon a principle, with an uncommon\nzeal and strictness.  Therefore I say, for you to fall flat and formal,\nand continue the profession, without that salt and savour by which it is\ncome to obtain a good report among men, is not to answer God's love, or\nyour parents' care, or the mind of truth in yourselves, or in those that\nare without: who, though they will not obey the truth, have sight and\nsense enough to see if they do that make a profession of it.  For where\nthe divine virtue of it is not felt in the soul, and waited for and lived\nin, imperfections will quickly break out, and show themselves, and detect\nthe unfaithfulness of such persons; and that their insides are not\nseasoned with the nature of that holy principle which they profess.\n\nWherefore, dear children, let me entreat you to shut your eyes at the\ntemptations and allurements of this low and perishing world, and not\nsuffer your affections to be captivated by those lusts and vanities that\nyour fathers, for the truth's sake, long since turned their backs upon:\nbut as you believe it to be the truth, receive it into your hearts, that\nyou may become the children of God: so that it may never be said of you,\nas the evangelist writes of the Jews in his time, that Christ, the true\nlight, \"came to his own, but his own received him not; but to as many as\nreceived him, to them he gave power to become the children of God; which\nwere born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of\nman, but of God;\" a most close and comprehensive passage to this\noccasion.  You exactly and peculiarly answer to those professing Jews, in\nthat you bear the name of God's people, by being the children, and\nwearing of the form of God's people: and he, by his light in you, may be\nvery well said to come to his own, and if you obey it not, but turn your\nbacks upon it, and walk after the vanities of your minds, you will be of\nthose that received him not; which I pray God may never be your case and\njudgment.  But that you may be thoroughly sensible of the many and great\nobligations you lie under to the Lord for his love, and to your parents\nfor their care: and with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your\nstrength, turn to the Lord, to his gift and Spirit in you; and hear his\nvoice, and obey it, that you may seal to the testimony of your fathers,\nby the truth and evidence of your own experience: that your children's\nchildren may bless you, and the Lord for you, as those that delivered a\nfaithful example, as well as record of the truth of God unto them.  So\nwill the grey hairs of your dear parents, yet alive, go down to the grave\nwith joy, to see you the posterity of truth, as well as theirs: and that\nnot only their nature, but spirit, shall live in you when they are gone.\n\n* * * * *\n\nI shall conclude this account with a few words to those who are not of\nour communion, into whose hands this may come; especially those of our\nown nation.\n\n* * * * *\n\nFriends, as you are the sons and daughters of Adam, and my brethren after\nthe flesh, often and earnest have been my desires and prayers to God on\nyour behalf, that you may come to know your Creator to be your Redeemer,\nand Restorer to the holy image that through sin you have lost, by the\npower and Spirit of his Son Jesus Christ, whom he hath given for the\nlight and life of the world.  And O that you, who are called Christians,\nwould receive him into your hearts! for there it is you want him, and at\nthat door he stands knocking, that you might let him in; but you do not\nopen to him; you are full of other guests, so that a manger is his lot\namong you now as well as of old.  Yet you are full of profession, as were\nthe Jews when he came among them, who knew him not, but rejected and\nevily entreated him.  So that if you come not to the possession and\nexperience of what you profess, all your formality and religion will\nstand you in no stead in the day of God's judgment.\n\nI beseech you ponder with yourselves your eternal condition, and see what\ntitle, what ground and foundation you have for your Christianity: if more\nthan a profession, and an historical belief of the gospel.  Have you\nknown the baptism of fire, and the Holy Ghost, and the fan of Christ that\nwinnows away the chaff in your minds, the carnal lusts, and affections;\nthat divine leaven of the kingdom, that, being received, leavens the\nwhole lump of man, sanctifying him throughout in body, soul, and spirit?\nIf this be not the ground of your confidence, you are in a miserable\nstate.\n\nYou will say, perhaps, that though you are sinners, and live in daily\ncommission of sin, and are not sanctified, as I have been speaking, yet\nyou have faith in Christ, who has borne the curse for you, and in him you\nare complete by faith, his righteousness being imputed to you.\n\nBut, my friends, let me entreat you not to deceive yourselves, in so\nimportant a point, as is that of your immortal souls.  If you have true\nfaith in Christ, your faith will make you clean; it will sanctify you:\nfor the saints' faith was their victory of old: by this they overcame sin\nwithin, and sinful man without.  And if thou art in Christ, thou walkest\nnot after the flesh, but after the Spirit, whose fruits are manifest.\nYea, thou art a new creature: new made, new fashioned, after God's will\nand mould.  Old things are done away, and, behold, all things are become\nnew: new love, desires, will, affections, and practices.  It is not any\nlonger thou that livest; (thou disobedient, carnal, worldly one;) but it\nis Christ that liveth in thee; and to live is Christ, and to die is thy\neternal gain: because thou art assured, that thy corruptible shall put on\nincorruption, and thy mortal, immortality, and that thou hast a glorious\nhouse, eternal in the heavens, that will never wax old or pass away.  All\nthis follows being in Christ, as heat follows fire, and light the sun.\n\nTherefore have a care how you presume to rely upon such a notion, as that\nyou are in Christ, whilst in your old fallen nature.  For what communion\nhath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial?  Hear what the beloved\ndisciple tells you: \"If we say we have fellowship with God, and walk in\ndarkness, we lie, and do not the truth.\"  That is, if we go on in a\nsinful way, are captivated by our carnal affections, and are not\nconverted to God, we walk in darkness, and cannot possibly in that state\nhave any fellowship with God.  Christ clothes them with his\nrighteousness, that receive his grace in their hearts, and deny\nthemselves, and take up his cross daily, and follow him.  Christ's\nrighteousness makes men inwardly holy; of holy minds, wills, and\npractices.  It is not the less Christ's, because we have it; for it is\nours, not by nature, but by faith and adoption: it is the gift of God.\nBut, still, though not ours, as of or from ourselves, (for in that sense\nit is Christ's, for it is of and from him,) yet it is ours, and must be\nours, in possession, efficacy, and enjoyment, to do us any good; or\nChrist's righteousness will profit us nothing.  It was after this manner\nthat he was made to the primitive Christians, righteousness,\nsanctification, justification, and redemption; and if ever you will have\nthe comfort, kernel, and marrow of the Christian religion, thus you must\ncome to learn and obtain it.\n\nNow, my friends, by what you have read, you may perceive that God has\nvisited a poor people among you, with this saving knowledge and\ntestimony, whom he has upheld and increased to this day, notwithstanding\nthe fierce opposition they have met withal.  Despise not the meanness of\nthis appearance: it was, and yet is, we know, a day of small things and\nof small account with too many; and many hard and ill names are given to\nit; but it is of God, it came from him, because it leads to him.  This we\nknow, but we cannot make another to know it, unless he will take the same\nway to know it that we took.  The world talks of God, but what do they\ndo?  They pray for power, but reject the principle in which it is.  If\nyou would know God, and worship and serve God as you should do, you must\ncome to the means he has ordained and given for that purpose.  Some seek\nit in books, some in learned men; but what they look for is in\nthemselves, (though not of themselves,) but they overlook it.  The voice\nis too still, the seed too small, and the light shineth in darkness; they\nare abroad, and so cannot divide the spoil: but the woman that lost her\nsilver, found it at home, after she had lighted her candle, and swept her\nhouse.  Do you so too, and you shall find what Pilate wanted to know,\nviz. Truth.  Truth in the inward parts, so valuable in the sight of God.\n\nThe light of Christ within, who is the light of the world, and so a light\nto you, that tells you the truth of your condition, leads all, that take\nheed unto it, out of darkness into God's marvellous light.  For light\ngrows upon the obedient; it is sown for the righteous, and their way is a\nshining light, that shines forth more and more to the perfect day.\n\nWherefore, O friends, turn in, turn in, I beseech you: where is the\npoison, there is the antidote.  There you want Christ, and there you must\nfind him; and blessed be God, there you may find him.  Seek and you shall\nfind, I testify for God.  But then you must seek aright, with your whole\nheart, as men that seek for their lives, yea for their eternal lives:\ndiligently, humbly, patiently, as those that can taste no pleasure,\ncomfort, or satisfaction in any thing else, unless you find him whom your\nsouls want to know and love above all.  O it is a travail, a spiritual\ntravail! let the carnal, profane world, think and say as it will.  And\nthrough this path you must walk to the city of God, that has eternal\nfoundations, if ever you will come there.\n\nWell! and what doth this blessed light do for you?  Why, first, it sets\nall your sins in order before you: it detects the spirit of this world in\nall its baits and allurements, and shows how man came to fall from God,\nand the fallen state he is in.  Secondly, it begets a sense and sorrow,\nin such as believe in it, for this fearful lapse.  You will then see him\ndistinctly whom you have pierced, and all the blows and wounds you have\ngiven him by your disobedience, and how you have made him to serve with\nyour sins; and you will weep and mourn for it, and your sorrow will be a\ngodly sorrow.  Thirdly, after this it will bring you to the holy watch,\nto take care that you do so no more, and that the enemy surprise you not\nagain.  Then thoughts, as well as words and works, will come to judgment,\nwhich is the way of holiness, in which the redeemed of the Lord do walk.\nHere you will come to love God above all, and your neighbours as\nyourselves.  Nothing hurts, nothing harms, nothing makes afraid on this\nholy mountain.  Now you come to be Christ's indeed; for you are his in\nnature and spirit, and not your own.  And when you are thus Christ's,\nthen Christ is yours, and not before.  And here you will know communion\nwith the Father and with the Son, and the efficacy of the blood of\ncleansing, even the blood of Jesus Christ, that immaculate Lamb, which\nspeaks better things than the blood of Abel; and which cleanseth from all\nsin, the consciences of those that, through the living faith, come to be\nsprinkled with it, from dead works to serve the living God.\n\n* * * * *\n\nTo conclude; behold the testimony and doctrine of the people called\nQuakers; behold their practice and discipline; and behold the blessed man\nand men, at least many of them, that were sent of God in this excellent\nwork and service; all which is more particularly expressed in the annals\nof that man of God, which I do heartily recommend to my reader's most\nserious perusal; and beseech Almighty God, that his blessing may go along\nwith both, to the convincement of many, as yet strangers to this holy\ndispensation, and also to the edification of God's church in general: who\nfor his manifold and repeated mercies and blessings to his people, in\nthis day of his great love, is worthy ever to have the glory, honour,\nthanksgiving, and renown; and be it rendered and ascribed, with fear and\nreverence, through him in whom he is well pleased, his beloved Son and\nLamb, our light and life, that sits with him upon the throne, world\nwithout end.  Amen.\n\nSays one that God has long since mercifully favoured with his fatherly\nvisitation, and who was not disobedient to the heavenly vision and call;\nto whom the way of truth is more lovely and precious than ever, and that\nknowing the beauty and benefit of it above all worldly treasures, has\nchosen it for his chiefest joy, and therefore recommends it to thy love\nand choice, because he is with great sincerity and affection,\n\nThy soul's friend,\nWILLIAM PENN.\n\n                                  FINIS.\n\n              PRINTED BY HARRISON AND CROSFIELD, MANCHESTER.\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS, &c.\n\n\n_On sale_, _at reduced prices_; _the property of the Society_: _to be had\nof_ William Manley, 86, _Houndsditch_, _London_; _and at the_ Manchester\nand Stockport Tract Depository, (_for particulars of which see its\nannexed List_.)\n                                    _Pounds._ _s._ _d._\nRobert Barclay's Apology for the    0 4 6\nTrue Christian Divinity, _octavo_\n   Universal Love                   0 0 3\n   Discipline                       0 0 6\n   Theses                           0 0 2\nE. Bates on the Doctrines of        0 4 0\nFriends\nElizabeth Bathurst's Truth          0 1 6\nVindicated\nW. Shewen's True Christian's        0 1 3\nFaith briefly stated\n   Counsel to the Christian         0 0 3\nTraveller\nE. Pugh's Salutation or Call,       0 1 6\nfrom the Many Things to the One\nThing Needful.  12mo.  bound\nH. Turford's Grounds of a Holy      0 1 0\nLife.  19th edit.\nWilliam Penn's Fruits of a          0 0 4\nFather's Love\n   Key to distinguish the           0 0 3\nReligion professed by Friends\nfrom perversion &\nmisrepresentation\nB. Holme's Serious Call, in         0 0 6\nChristian Love to all People.\n17th edition\nC. Marshall's Way of Life           0 0 3\nrevealed\nM. Brook on Silent Waiting          0 0 3\nJ. Crook's Truth's Principles on    0 0 2\nDoctrine, &c.\nG. Whitehead's Epistle on True      0 0 1\nChristian Love\nJ. Griffith's Remarks on            0 0 6\nImportant Subjects\nM. Leadbeater's Biographical        0 3 0\nNotices of Friends who were\nresident in Ireland\nG. Fox's Journal of Travels,        0 12 0\nSufferings, and Labours of Love,\nin the Work of the Ministry.  2\nvols.  8vo.  boards\nWilliam Edmundson's Journal of      0 3 0\nhis Life, Travels, &c.\nI. Pennington's Memoirs, and        0 2 6\nReview of his Writings, by J. G.\nBevan, 12mo.  boards\nT. Ellwood's Life                   0 3 0\nT. Chalkley's Journal and Works     0 3 0\nJ. Woolman's Journal and Works      0 4 0\n   Serious Considerations           0 1 0\nJ. Churchman's Journal, 12mo.       0 3 0\ncloth\nS. Crisp, Memoirs of, by S. Tuke    0 3 0\nJ. Gratton's Journal                0 1 0\nJames Gough's Memoirs, Religious    0 1 6\nExperience, &c.\nD. Hall's Life and Epistles         0 1 6\nR. Jordan's Life                    0 1 6\nG. Latey's Life                     0 1 0\nJane Pearson, Memoirs of            0 1 0\nC. Story's Life                     0 0 6\nJohn Alderson, Memoirs of           0 0 2\nAbiah Darby's Catechism             0 0 4\nT. Carrington's Exhortation         0 0 2\nSelection of G. Fox's Epistles,     0 3 6\nby S. Tuke\nYearly Epistles to 1817, calf       0 7 0\nSelection of Advices                0 1 6\nSEWEL'S HISTORY OF FRIENDS, (_new\nedition_.)\nRules and Advices of the Yearly\nMeeting, _just published_.\nPenn's Rise and Progress of the     0 0 8\nPeople called Quakers, in which\ntheir Fundamental Principle,\nDoctrines, Worship, Ministry, and\nDiscipline, are plainly declared.\n_Stiff cover_\n   _Cloth_                          0 1 0\n\n\nThere is an Association of Friends in London, for the printing and\ndistribution of TRACTS on Moral and Religious Subjects, chiefly such as\nhave a tendency to elucidate and support the Principles of Christianity\nas held by the Society of Friends; in which there are _sixty two_\ndifferent Tracts, price from 3_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ per doz.  Sold by\nEDMUND FRY, 73, Houndsditch; and by HARVEY and DARTON, 55, Gracechurch\nStreet, London: also at the Manchester and Stockport TRACT DEPOSITORY.\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes\n\n\n{25}  Instead of being asked those questions, the present practice is to\nproduce the needful certificates of consent.\n\n{26}  This second attendance is not now required.\n\n{27}  This hardly describes the present practice.  It is not _during_ the\ngathering only, if at all, that exhortation takes place.  If the corpse\nbe conveyed to a meeting-house, the meeting is held like any other; and\nwhat is here called 'Exhortation,' takes place or not, as any minister\npresent believes him or herself influenced.  The usage at the burial\nground is still as here described.  Interments often take place without\nany previous meeting.\n\n{28}  The collective sense and judgment of the church, herein, remains\nthe same, as is manifest by the frequent advices given forth from their\nyearly and other meetings.\n\n{43a}  At present (1834) there are eight yearly meetings on the American\ncontinent, which correspond with the yearly meeting in London, and\nmutually with each other; they are united in doctrine, and their\ndiscipline is similar.\n\n{43b}  They are thus particularized in a more recent publication of the\nsociety:--This is an occasional voluntary contribution, expended in\nprinting books; house-rent for a clerk, and his wages for keeping\nrecords; the passage of ministers who visit their brethren beyond sea;\nand some small incidental charges; but not, as has been falsely supposed,\nthe reimbursement of those who suffer distraint for tithes, and other\ndemands, with which they scruple to comply.\n\n{44}  This is not now quite correct.  A committee still draws up the\nGeneral Epistle; but the minutes of the transactions of the meeting are\nmade as matters occur during its several sittings.\n\n{57}  Called the Meeting for Sufferings, and now held monthly, except\nexigencies require more frequent sittings.","title":"A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the People Called Quakers","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":25855}